I'll Be Back Again
by LovelyLuck49
Summary: "Hi?" she whispered in disbelief, eyes turning to slits as she moved closer to him. "You know?" she spat bitterly, "When I imagined what you would say to me if you ever returned, I expected something along the lines of an apology, a plea for forgiveness, but you are some piece of work Sora Kyoukou!" she hissed. In three years, everything had changed. Slightly AU, Future Fic.
1. Coming Home

**A/N: Oh god I haven't written for this site in years, literally 4 YEARS. Well, um, hi :) This is my first Kingdom Hearts fanfic and most of you know me as a reviewer or don't know me at all.**

**This story was inspired by Augustana's "Twenty Years" and I've had this idea for a long time and have been playing with this draft since May of this year. I'm finally posting this because it's SoKai day! I have most of the story all typed up but it's still rough and needs some editing. Well I hope you enjoy! But if you don't, at least I tried :p.**

**Also, Sora &Kairi are about 24 and Riku's 25.**

**Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own the awesomeness that is Kingdom Hearts.**

"_Could this be our last dance?_

_Just fall asleep with the TV darling…_

_ I'll be back again."_

Warmth was all he felt as he stood along the shore of the small play island where he had grown up. He had been gone for over 3 years now, deep within in the dark realm fighting off all threats to the realm of light.

Now everything was at peace once again and he could relax for the time being. His senses absorbed everything around him, the taste of the sweet sea air, the sound of the waves and the distant commotion from the main island. He relished the feeling of the wind through his spikey hair and the sand between his toes, admiring the colors of the setting skies filled with reds and purples. Red like the hair of his only love and purple like her vibrant eyes.

Suddenly his heart was filled with guilt at abandoning his princess. He was alone now. No one was here to greet his return because no one even knew he was going to leave.

He sighed kicking up some of the sand and shaking off his anxiety. He didn't know what to say to Kairi or Riku or any of their friends. After his last journey to defeat master Xehanort he had promised all of them that he would keep them updated and let all of them know what was going on with the worlds so he wouldn't take off without notice again.

For a while, he was good to his word. Life was great for the five years of peace after 'The Great Final Battle', he and Kairi moved in to a small apartment together. She finished up her last year of high school and went off to university while he started teaching self-defense classes at a gym he started with Riku, though they didn't really need jobs with the fortune they collected defeating heartless.

He and Riku remained tight as ever. The three were finally truly happy living their lives without threat of having to pull the keyblade out of retirement looming over their heads.

Sora was so madly in love with Kairi that he bushed at the thought. He remembered all their dates, their laughs, their inside jokes, and all the time they spent together and he missed it desperately. It made his heart ache to go this long without her and if he hadn't fucked everything up, he would run home like a deranged lunatic, storm into their small apartment, throw his arms around her and never let go. They would get married like he promised and she would still be wearing the ring he gave her a week before he left. She had to be livid with him and he was honestly terrified to confront her so he sat on the island instead, hiding from the life he left behind 3 years ago.

He didn't know what to expect. Had she given up on him? Has she moved on? Did she even live there anymore? The possible answers to those questions made him sick to his stomach but he deserved it, and he knew it. Who leaves their fiancé without any notice? It was a hard decision to make, but he knew it was the right thing to do.

King Mickey had called upon him for this dangerous mission to dive into the realm of darkness to fight off upcoming threats the day after he had proposed to Kairi. He was warned that his heart may not be able to handle it and he could lose not only himself but his heart. He was too noble to decline the mission because it would benefit the worlds greatly, but it was all too tempting to say 'no' and remain in his picture perfect life.

After leaving Disney Castle, he tried to tell Kairi but realized that though it would hurt at first, the idea of him leaving for good would hurt her less then realizing he lost himself to darkness, which, in all honestly, had almost happened one too many times.

Sora's head started to ache with all this confusion of what to do but his heart weighed heavy. He knew it was time to go home.

His hands were shaking as he stood outside their door. The sun had set a long time ago and he would be lucky if she was even awake. Even though he could simply use his keyblade, which unlocks mostly everything, he pulled out his small house key instead because he just had to know. Trembling he inserted the key and heard it unlock.

He breathed out a sigh of relief that she had never changed the locks, that was a good sign right? He slowly opened the door to find a dark and silent home. Even in the dark he could tell things were different, the whole set up of the house had been changed and he felt like a stranger, he felt this was wrong.

_Maybe I should leave_… but he had come too far to just run away and give up. He shut the door behind him and stood in the threshold debating whether or not to turn on a light.

_What if I wake her up? What if she _did _move I mean it's so different now_? He paused to take in his surroundings and calm himself._ I feel her so strongly, she must be here, she lives here, this is our home._ He let his hand graze upon the switch for a few seconds before abruptly flicking it shocked by all he saw. She had painted the walls from a light blue to a happy yellow and she bought new furniture for the living room. He noticed the pictures of him had been taken down with nothing put up in its place. His heart sank and his hope depleted. He slowly made his way into the living room noticing the collection of Disney movies on the shelf.

_She must have missed all of our friends, _he smirked, but that was when he noticed it. There was a picture of Kairi and some guy he had never seen before in a frame sitting on the end table. The picture was defiantly recent because Kairi looked more mature, aged, but in a good way. She had a small smile on her face as the guy had his arm around her. He looked about 21 and had the same gorgeous eyes as her and blonde hair.

Sora was so shocked that he could not even think straight or process what the picture could possibly mean and yet he could only put blame on himself. Emotions stirred with him that he could not put a finger on. Was it anger, remorse, maybe even a hint of hatred? But to whom? Himself, her, the mysterious man?

He rubbed his forehead trying to prevent a massive headache. He was exhausted both mentally and physically. Not only had he been fighting in a different realm for three years, but he comes home to find that his fiancé, friend, ex-lover has completely rid herself of him and possibly has a new lover? He suddenly felt like sleep was unavoidable and that his legs would give out any minute.

Slowly he trudged his way down the hall to the guest room. He was way too tired and way too distraught to deal with anyone right now. He just wanted to sleep. He slowly turned the infamously squeaky knob and pushed open the door to find the room covered in a luminous pink glow.

Stunned he crept into the room seeing plush animals everywhere and toys scattered upon the ground. The bed had a canopy drape above it and on the wall above the headboard the name "Hikari" was written, on the other walls, giant pictures of Kairi and "Hikari" were hung and in the bed a small lump was peacefully sleeping under the convers.

Sora couldn't breathe and suddenly time stopped. His eyes widened in shock and he had to suppress a gasp.

_K-Kairi has a daughter…. Kairi was pregnant…. Could I? Could I be the father? Could I have a daughter? I left her… I left her…_

Suddenly he felt nauseous and dizzy and he had to get out of that room. He ran into the living room, mind running a mile per minute, and collapsed on the couch. He laid there with his palms pressed into his eyes trying to process every thought and emotion.

_What am I sure of? Kairi has a child. It's a girl, and her name is Hikari. Kairi still lives here since she is every picture but she is definitely mad at me or has moved on since every picture of us is now gone. Okay now what do I need to figure out? Who is Hikari's father? Has Kairi moved on? Who is that guy? I have screwed up royally… Fuck… fuck fuck fuck…._

There was no way he could leave now. Not only did he have nowhere else to go, he needed to speak with Kairi as soon as possible. At this point he didn't even care about how awkward it would be if the girl woke up first or if Kairi's new boyfriend or husband woke up and saw him on the couch. He had been away too long to care about making things awkward. Now he just had to try and sleep.

Though he was exhausted from all the work he had done over the past few years and from the mental toll today had brought him, he could not fall asleep for the life of him. His mind kept wandering and running about all he had potentially missed while he was gone. He thought about Riku and if he was married yet. He wondered if Riku had children or a new best friend and if he and Kairi were still friends, if their children were friends. He couldn't handle thinking about all this anymore and just tried to breathe.

_In…..Out….In…Out….._Suddenly the clock struck 5:30 a.m. _Have I been up for that long? Where did the time-_and that's when he heard it, the dull rumble of drawers opening and closing and the pitter-patter of the running shower. His eyes shot open, panic shooting down his spine, and hair pricking up on the back neck. He was wide awake now knowing that in a few minutes his questions will be answered.

His nervousness spread through his body like wildfire as soon as the shower turned off. He could hear his pulse increase and feel his body covered in a cold sweat. Suddenly he was at a loss of what to do.

Should he confront her, sit at the table to wait for her? What if her boyfriend, lover, husband is the one who comes out first?

Deciding that he should stay on the couch, roll over, and pretend to be asleep, the guy (hopefully) would leave him alone assuming Kairi has explained that her crazy ex might randomly show up again. Quickly he rolled himself over, ignoring all the aches and pains from battle and a poor night's sleep, and desperately shut his eyes and tried to lay perfectly still to resemble a sleeping figure.

**A/N: Sooooooooo? What do ya think? See that review button? That helps me become a better writer so you should totally click it ;) Maybe if I get just one measly review I'll post chapter two later today, and trust me you're going to want to read it!**

_Teaeser:_

_The perfect silence of the early morning was shattered by the creaking hinges of an opening door. Sora's breath hitched in his throat and he forced himself to contain a slow, steady, sleep-like breathing pattern. Footsteps padded down the hallway and he heard a small but powerful gasp._


	2. Fog In The Air

**A/N: Alright Chapter 2! I'd like to be proud of two posts in one night, but I aready had this typed up and the majority of it edited. Since it is Sokai day I thought the two posts would be a good idea and a treat to who ever is reading this.**

**Shout out to SiChri my first reviewer! Thank you so much and I'm glad you're enjoying this and hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**This chapter was inspired by the song **_My Fault _**by**_ Imagine_ Dragons.**Have you heard of them? No? Go listen to Radioactive now. You're welcome :)**

**This chapter is a little heavy on the agnst and M for language. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer:... Do I have to do this every time? I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it?**

_Oh, it's on the warmest night  
It's in the brightest light  
It's when the world is moving  
Oh, it's in the faintest cry  
It's in the lover's eye  
Is when I need you most_

The perfect silence of the early morning was shattered by the creaking hinges of an opening door. Sora's breath hitched in his throat and he forced himself to contain a slow, steady, sleep-like breathing pattern. Soft footsteps padded down the hallway and he heard a small but powerful gasp.

His heart melted, it wasn't some guy, that gasp was pure Kairi, the girl he had longed to see and touch and hold for three years was only a few feet away from him. He couldn't handle only hearing her voice, he had to see her and her big beautiful eyes and flowing crimson hair. He rolled over and his eyes met hers, but he was shocked.

She was still beautiful, her hair was still the same beautiful shade, and sure she had aged just the slightest but her eyes, her eyes scared him.

They were **dark** surrounded by furrowed eyebrows, and her jaw was clenched so tightly it looked like it hurt. She looked furious and hurt and he was honestly afraid of what she was going to do to him.

"Hi." He muttered quietly in shock, eyes wide open and focused completely on her. _Wrong move_ he noted as he gauged her reaction. She clenched her fist tightly and shook her head in disbelief.

"Hi?" she whispered disbelievingly with gravel in her voice as she slowly moved towards him and laughed darkly.

"You know?" she spat bitterly, voice still not above a loud whisper,

"When I imagined what you would say to me if you ever returned, I expected something along the lines of an apology, a plea for forgiveness, but you are some fucking piece of work Sora Kyoukou!" she hissed as her voice raised to a dull roar and she turned away from him gently pulling on her hair by its roots.

Her tone angered him just a small amount even though she had every right to be upset with him. and as if by sheer instinct alone, Sora jumped up and followed her.

"What the hell do you want me to say Kairi? I'm sorry I left you, but you know what _this_," he reached his arms out and with a flash of light, summoned kingdom key "entails!" he all but shouted at her from behind.

She didn't move, didn't say anything so he grabbed her forearm to turn her around to face him and was met with a hard and firm slap across the face.

"Don't you _dare_ touch me!" she yelped with tears running down her face unsuccessfully trying to mute her sobs while he clenched his face with both of his hand.

"Shit, Kai? Wha-what the fuck?" he whimpered. His face was numb but he could feel involuntary tears betray him as they fell down his cheeks. He never imagined that he could hurt her this badly.

This was his worst nightmare.

"Exactly Sora!" she screamed.

"What the Fuck?! I have been asking myself that for _three years_ now. Why the fuck did you leave? Why the fuck did you never call or come home? Why the fuck did I ge-" she cut herself short eyes wide and hiccupping. She shook her head regaining composure.

"When you first left," her voice was soft again but the anger had not dissipated.

"I was mildly pissed off. I mean you had just proposed to me and then you've left without a single word. But I figured if you didn't tell me, the problem wasn't that serious and you would be home in a few days, maybe weeks tops. But then weeks turned into months and you still hadn't come home." Her voice was shaking and thick and tears started pooling in her eyes.

"I thought that you, you were dead. That darkness had finally won against the light." She laughed and shook her head.

" I was a mess, the thought of you being dead, crushed me. I didn't speak, I didn't eat. All I did was cry."

All Sora could do was meet her eyes and listen as she told him off. He was powerless but she still continued.

"However, King Mickey came to visit about a year ago asking for the help of Riku to make your mission easier. We were all shocked that you were still alive and had not contacted any of us and asked His Majesty where you were, what you were doing, if you were alright, why you hadn't contacted us and he was as shocked as we were that you abandoned us, _all_ of us."

Sora hung his head in shame by her truthful words.

"That was when I decided you were dead to me. I would rather live believing you were dead than face the fact that you lied to me, that you didn't care about me, that you didn't love me." She finished with no emotion left in her voice.

"I just want to know why," her voice as calm and smooth as the morning tide.

"Why what?" Sora responded his voice low. He was hurt but he knew he had only hurt himself. All he wanted now was to suck the venom out of her life and to make her happy again. But he knew her trust in him was broken beyond repair.

"Just why…" she responded, her voice cracking at the end as she sat herself gently on the couch. He sighed as he moved closer to her.

"Do you…mind?" he gently asked motioning to an open spot of the couch. She hesitated but shook her head 'no'. He sat down and rested his head between his hands deciding where to start. "If I explain, will you answer a few questions of mine?" he asked hesitantly and she nodded her head slowly, staring out straight in front of her. "Look at me" he whispered " I can't," she replied "it's like looking at a ghost…"

He paused, and took a deep breath before speaking "The day after I, um, proposed to you," he started off shakily, "His Majesty had called for me. He told me about a new, strong threat that was uprising in the dark realm. I had never seen him so scared in all my years of service to him." He ran a hand over his face at the memory of his frightened leader. " He warned me that the sacrifice I would have to make for this journey was larger than any other I had made in the past-" "But king mickey told us you were allowed to tell us!" Kairi interrupted anger flaring again.

Sora sighed and explained, "That wasn't the sacrifice Kai. He warned me that this time my life wasn't the only thing in danger but my light was at stake as well. He told me that fighting in the dark realm could change me forever, that I could lose myself to darkness and become…evil."

He paused to gauged her reaction which remained neutral so he continued. "There was no question of whether or not I was going to go on this mission. I needed to, to save the worlds. What I was having problems with was deciding was how I was going to tell you, tell the others. There was so much risk involved with the mission that I decided that it would be easier for everyone to deal with my absence than deal with my turn over to darkness-"

"You son of a bitch!" she cut him off venom back in her voice. "that has to be the stupidest excuse I've ever heard-" "It almost happened!" he screamed at her.

"What?" she questioned timidly not used to him raising his voice at her.

"I almost slipped into darkness more than once… more than twice." He replied trying to explain the severity of his mission. "If ever did fall and the darkness clouded my judgment and I came here, looking for you," he looked her hoping she would understand the underlying meaning, "I would want to react like you have been, angry, willing to fight, no emotions… I would want you to kill me."

Kairi gasped in shock and looked at him for the first time since he started talking." But I still don't-" " If I had told you I was leaving, you would have expected me to come home. The emotions you would have felt during the time I was away would not have been as remotely extreme as they were when I left without telling you. If I came after you as a figure of darkness, I would have destroyed you because you would have let me. You would have been too emotional dealing with the fact that you had lost me to defend yourself. The way I handled it prevented that. It left anger inside you making it ideal for my worst case scenario, but horrible for my best." He watched her absorb his theory seeming oddly calm.

"Do you at least somewhat understand my thought process?" he questioned.

She sighed, trembling slightly as she took in everything he had to say. "I am still nowhere close to being okay with you. I am still deeply, and tremendously hurt." she warned strongly.

"But I can admit that in words alone, that the theory makes…. Some sense." She fell silent staring at her hands but slowly lifted her head to meet his glance.

"Did you really almost fall to darkness?" she asked like a scared child. Sora was relieved to hear here starting to sound like the Kairi he knew and a small smirk appeared on his face.

"The dark realm plays by different rules. It scares me how easily they almost got to me." He sighed and looked at her she just nodded and stared back at him.

She glanced at the digital clock on the end table noticing the time, 6:45. "Shit!" she gasped jumping up off the couch.

"I'm going to be late for work! Give me one second." With that she stormed out of the room and pulled out her cell phone.

Sora honestly was content with how things were progressing between them. Not happy, but content. Considering how things started off, they were making huge strides she could look at him now and he honestly believed that with hard work she would be able to trust him again, maybe even love him.

He was glad he got to come clean to her. It relieved his grief filled heart but he still had many questions for her that flared his nerves again. He needed to know about the child that she still had not spoken of, of the man in pictures with her, of their friends. He sighed knowing that this was only the beginning of their reunion.

Kairi entered the room again hesitantly. "I-I called off work." She admitted with fear in her eyes. Sora nodded at her curiously; wondering what suddenly had her all shaken up. "You had questions for me?" she asked, voice so quiet that he almost couldn't hear her.

He nodded his head and again, didn't know where to start. Should he question her daughter first or mysterious picture man?

"What… have you been up to?" he chickened out. She perked up at the easy question.

"I'm an English teacher at Shore Side Academy." Shore side was the premier school on all of Destiny Islands.

"Wow Kai, that's great!" he let out softly somewhat disappointed that she mentioned neither Hikari nor the man in the picture. He knew he was going to have to ask more intense questions to find the answers he was looking for.

"Why did you take down all of our pictures?" he asked softly.

"I am upset with you, having to see the memories of us happily together is too painful." She stated matter-of-factly.

He sighed rubbing his forehead preparing himself knowing that this next question was going to change his life regardless of the answer.

"Kairi," He started off slowly "when I came home last night-"

"This isn't your home anymore, Sora." She stated, not bitterly, but it was enough to remind him how much he screwed up, and it hurt.

"...right. When I walked into your apartment last night, I went into the guest room to lay down," her eyes widened and panic spread over her face.

"I-It wasn't the way I remembered it. It was pink and the pictures on the walls were of you and this beautiful baby girl laughing and giggling." He couldn't hide the emotions in his voice as a large lump settled and tears of his own were falling down his face.

" The wall said the name 'Hikari'," Kairi had lost it, she was sobbing into her hand much like when she first confronted him, but this time she was not holding back the noises and squeaks her sobs made.

"And I looked down in the bed and saw a tiny lump sleeping. Kairi I know she is your daughter, but I have to know," he let out a shaky breath as he tried to stay composed to finish the question.

"Is she mine?"

Kairi's body shook with sobs as she visibly crumbled before his very eyes. He had started openly crying too from watching his only reason for avoiding the darkness, his light, be in so much heartache before his eyes. He wanted to touch her to hold her to soothe her, but most of all he wanted an answer.

His teary blue eyes met her puffy violet ones as she struggled to come up with the answer. Her mouth formed words but could not make a sound. "Please just tell me' he begged desperately, hope fleeting his body with every passing moment. She closed her eyes, composing herself, and simply nodded 'yes'.

A hurricane of emotions filled his being as he fell on his knees next to her. He was angry, devastated, surprised, relieved, bitter, and joyful equally all at the same time. He pulled her to him not caring about how hard she would slap or kick him. He hugged her so tightly sobbing into her beautiful red locks.

"I'm so sorry," he apologized over and over again.

"Sorry for not being there, sorry for doing this to you, sorry for making you do everything on your own."

She was desperately trying to gasp for air and calm herself before she started hyperventilating. She let her resolve wash away as she let her head nestle into the crook of his neck and wrapped her arms around him desperately comforted by his warmth and calming scent.

"You have no idea how hard it is!" she let out between sobs.

"I needed you and you weren't there!" she screamed as fresh tears continued to stream sown her face.

"We both needed you, so badly, but you didn't even care!" she met his eyes seeing so much hurt and pain that it could match her own.

"That's not fair" he responded brokenly "I didn't even know!"

She looked he straight in the eye and laid her hand over her heart "You should have been able to feel it." she accused, hurt dripping from her voice.

He dropped his gaze as he was calming down and his breathing started to return to normal.

" I want to make it up to you, to both of you." He pleaded.

She shook her head still visibly upset "why would you want that?" she asked skeptically.

"Because I love you, so much. I've always loved you, that's never changed-" "Sora-"

"I meant what I said when I gave you that ring! You're the _only_ one for me!"

His voice was strong as he reached for her face and caressed her cheek with his thumb begging her for a second chance.

"Don't lie to me, Sora." She sounded exasperated.

"I never want to lie to you Kairi."

" You already have," She whimpered "I- I'm not ready to forgive you." She cried out.

"Just give me a chance to show you that I will never hurt you again." He pleaded searching her eyes for any sign of mercy. She walked into the kitchen and laughed bitterly

" How do I know that in a few years that you won't leave again without a word. Not even years! It could months, weeks, days even!"

"You just have to believe me!" He shouted and followed her, hot on her heels.

She poured herself a mug of coffee and slowly sipped on it.

"I don't think it's a secret that I don't trust you, Sora. It's also no secret that you crushed me when you left, and _now_ it's not only my own abandonment I have to worry about, I have to worry about _her _too! I can't handle picking up the pieces of my life again, and I certainly will not let my daughter be hurt and abandoned by her own father!" she held her ground not giving into his pleas.

"Kairi give me a chance please. I want to be with you, I want to know our daughter, I want to be a family, I want this more than anything else. Please…." His voice was calm and he tried to wrap his arms around his waist and hold her from behind.

She groaned in annoyance and turned around to face him.

"What we are going to do is take this whooooole _thing_" she gestured between them with her hands " very, very, _very_ slow." Sora visibly perked up but Kairi quickly interjected.

"No, no, I still don't forgive, and I'm still mad at you." She stated pointedly but then her voice softened.

"But I don't want my daughter to grow up without knowing her father and if you do keep your promise, _this_" she gestured between them again "may work out."

She relaxed and wrapped her arms around him too and let a small smile grace her lips. He smiled too.

"You really mean it?" he barely could conceal that excitement in his voice. She nodded and he pressed a small kiss on her forehead. She shuttered and he pulled away instantly.

"Too soon?" he asked solemnly She and she shrugged, "I don't know yet" she offered a small smile which he mirrored back.

She peered at the clock above the oven and nearly did a spit take with her coffee, It was nearly 8. She turned to Sora in panic.

"You need to leave, now." There was no nonsense in her voice as she desperately tried to pull a confused Sora to the door.

"Kairi, wait, w-what's going on? I have nowhere else to go!" he had no idea what had gotten into her.

"Go see Riku, your mom, Tidus, Wakka, hell, go see Selphie! But _please_, leave" she was literaly pushing him out the door.

"Kairi, stop!" he demanded he grabbed her hands and pulled them off his chest.

"Now what the hell is going on?" "It's just-" "Momma! Big man hurt chu?" a small voice cooed.

There, across the kitchen was Hikari standing only a few feet tall in her pink pajamas sucking her thumb with her long auburn hair, rumpled and knotted and her bright, big, colbalt blue eyes met his.

**A/N: Are you there readers? It's me, Lovely...Okay who was shocked that Sora was the father? No one? Anyone shocked by anything? Does this suck? Do you like it? Please leave a review whether you love it, hate it, think I'm a disgrace to fanfiction, whatever! Reviews are like hugs, one's just never enough :)**

**Also! if you have a suggest for plot, want to see something happen, have a question? Please PM me because I can go in a lot of directions and I want to hear what YOU want.**

**'til next time!**


	3. I Just Want You To Know Who I Am

**A/N: Here it is, Chpater 3! Kind of a shorter chapter and I feel like this entire story is going nowhere yet haha! But luckily the first arc will be over in a chapter or two, and the more exciting second arc will be coming!**

**No song this chapter because I kind of just wanted to post it because I have a shit ton of homework, my shows on tonight, and I have to go running!**

**Quick thanks to my reviewers, and to all the people who favorited and followed the story! This chapter's for you! **

…_Momma! Big man hurt chu?_

Sora's world stopped and his breath hitched in his throat. He could have stayed in that moment forever but Kairi broke the spell.

"No sweetie," her voice was soft and airy as she bent over and picked up her angel and kissed her cheek. "This is just Mommy's friend."

Kairi couldn't help but notice the awe and wonder that filled Sora's eyes as he stared at the child and Hikari met Sora's gaze.

"Chu Momma's friend like Riku?" Hikari asked Sora excitedly, eyes bright with joy. Sora's heart had stopped beating, or at least it felt like it. There looking right at him was his daughter and yet she had no idea who he was.

He gulped slowly. "Yeah your mom and I have been friends for years, since we were little." His voice was soft as he spoke to her, but it sounded broken, hurt, saddened and Kairi noticed it.

"Do chu know Riku? He like the funnest person ever!" Hikari giggled and Sora nodded "Riku and I are friends, we used to play with your mommy on the play island together."

Hikari gasped and wriggled around in Kairi's arms desperate to escape. Kairi gently set her daughter on the floor confused.

"Momma!" Hikari shrieked, "You never let me go to play island but chu went as baby?" Hikari accused.

"Ari, you are still too young to go, I promise you next year I'll take you." Kairi chastised and Hikari, or Ari, huffed and turned toward Sora.

"Momma friend, what your name?" Sora squatted down next to her.

"My name is Sora, what's your name?" Sora asked already knowing the answer but was desperate to have a conversation with his daughter.

"My name's Hikari! H-I-K-A-R-I! but everybody call me Ari!" she reached out her hand to shake Sora's and his heart swelled.

He was already so in love with this child and he barely knew her. She was the perfect mixture of Sora and Kairi capturing the highlights of both parents, his eyes and her hair and both of their beautiful smiles.

He felt so guilty that he wasn't there for her, that he missed so much of her life. But he kept on smiling trying to enjoy as much of the moment as he could with his daughter.

"Hikari-" "Ari" She corrected, "Right, Ari, that is a pretty name."

"Yup Momma picked it out because-" "Now Ari, let's not bore Sora with that story" Kairi interjected a pink tinge upon her cheeks.

"No Momma I tell! It's a good story!" Ari pleaded and Kairi's face turned red.

"Momma picked my name because it means light and Momma tolds me that my Dadda was her light but now that he gone, I'm her light!" Hikari finished.

"Isn't that story good, Sora?" Hikari asked just as much of a ball of never ending excitement like her father was.

"Yeah Ari…" Sora whispered looking at Kairi, "That's a good story." He stood up and tried to meet Kairi's gaze but she avoided him.

"Momma, Where's Nanny Dairu?" Ari once again broke the silence and Kairi seemed to perk.

" I called and told her not to come baby. Momma called off work today and I get to have you all to myself!" Ari shrieked as Kairi lifted her up high in the air and blew on her belly. "Now, is someone hungry?"

Hikari nodded and they headed into the kitchen and placed her at the table. Sora stood awkwardly against a cabinet not knowing exactly what to do. "Come sit wif me Sowa!" Ari yelled through a mouthful of cheerios and bananas while Kairi yelled at her manners. He sat down next to her and enjoyed the ramblings of the small child about butterflies and princesses and the boy next door who she likes to play pranks on.

Sora never wanted to leave her again she was so perfect and he was still having trouble accepting the fact that someone so amazing and adorable could be a part of him.

As Ari munched on breakfast and suddenly became fascinated with an app on her mother's iPad, Kairi leaned over to whisper to Sora.

"After breakfast, if you want, I'll do some chores so you can spend some time with her, and then we can talk later?" she questioned with a hopeful glint in her eye and he was happy to oblige.

After breakfast Ari begged to watch _Finding Nemo_ on the couch in her pj's and begged Sora to watch it with her while Kairi did some laundry and made the beds. Sora had never seen this _Nemo_ movie, but found it hilarious and laughed along with Ari.

At the end when Nemo and his dad reunited, he couldn't help but notice that the high energy and bright attitude of Hikari had faltered and she looked almost sad. She looked up and met his eyes with her big sad blue ones and instantly, Sora knew where this was headed.

"Sora, chu said you know Riku, right?" Hikari started of timidly and Sora nodded "Well, then do you know my Dadda?"

The pleading look in her eyes shattered his heart completely. He saw so much heartache and confusion that he honestly hated himself in that moment. "Why would you ask that Ari?" he asked gently trying not to let his emotions get the best of him.

She crawled up on to his lap and whispered, "Riku say he grewd up wit my Dadda and they were best friends. He told me that I'm just like him and that it make Momma sad. I fought that if you grew up wif Riku too, maybe you know my Dadda."

"I-I," Sora sighed completely at a loss. He couldn't tell this girl he was her father right now, that could honestly make everything worse and Kairi wasn't here for guidance. "I-, yes. Your father is a good man, he loves his friends and loves your mom deeply and I'm more than sure that if he knew you, he'd love you too."

"Where he?" she begged tears in her eye.

"I don't know" he lied knowing it was for the best.

"It no fair!" Hikari pouted crossing her arms with tears pooling in her eyes.

"What is?" Sora asked genuinely confused at the girls sudden anger. " Kenyo gets to have both a mommy and a daddy, I don't" she huffed while Sora pondered.

"Kenyo… the boy who lives next door?"

"Mhm, I picks on him because he has the only thing I wants." Hikari admitted with as much shame as a three year old could.

Sora didn't need to ask what that was, the answer was obvious and it pulled at his heart strings. He genty pulled the small child into a small hug and rubbed her back.

"But Ari, you already have the best family in the world! You have an awesome mom you loves you so much, Riku who I remember you saying is 'the funnest person ever!' and now you have me and between us, we will always make sure you're safe and happy, okay?" she nodded against his shoulder " Sora, you forgot Uncle Zach he family too."

"I'm sorry, I've never met your uncle Zach," he stated hesitantly confused by this new person. Hikari pointed at the picture of the mysterious man, "Momma brother from Rayraydet Gradens!"

Sora almost forgot about the man with all the new found stress of having a daughter! He was so relieved that it was only her brother from before she ended up on the island, and smile spread across his face

"Ah, I see." Suddenly Hikari let out a loud yawn and snuggled up into Sora wrapping her little arms around his neck.

"Uh-oh," A voice sounded from across the room, "Is it nap time already for a sleepy girl?" Kairi asked as she walked over to the couch.

"No, I spending time with Sora." The little girl's voice sounded as if she was trying to fight off the inevitable sleep.

"Well," Kairi bent down to kiss the child's head rested upon Sora's shoulder, "maybe if you're nice, Sora will tuck you in bed for a nap, and maybe he'll even carry you!" Kairi's voice was filled with excitement hoping Hikari would agree to it.

"Mmmm" Ari sounded in agreement and Kairi winked at Sora and motioned toward her room with her head.

Sora cradled the child softly as he stood up and walked softly toward her room and could sense Kairi following behind him. He laid Ari down softly in bed and tucked a blanket around her. Noticing she was already asleep, Sora whispered in her ear,

"Remember what I told you, you have a family who loves you very, _very_ much." He kissed her forehead and quietly turned around to leave.

At the doorway, Kairi stood there with a hand over mouth and a few tears running down her face. Sora reached out to wipe them understanding that this moment was touching for her too. She simply smiled and leaned into his touch.

_Maybe, just maybe, things are finally turning around._

**A/N: So could you understand what Hikari was saying, or is my baby talk seriously off?**

**Love it, hate it? Leave a review please! (they make updates come faster ;) )**

'**til next time!**


	4. A Hard Days Night

**A/N: Sorry about the long wait! This author's note is going to be really short because I class in five minutes and if I don't post it now I won be able to post it until Monday night! So here we are, hope you enjoy! **

**Also a big thank you to all my reviewers and all those who favorite or followed, I love you all! It honestly means so much to me, I'm touched.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

The two former lovers sat next to each other on the couch eating the small lunch Kairi prepared for them.

"So how long do we have until she wakes up?" Sora whispered. Kairi laughed, 'Sora, you don't need to whisper! She will seriously sleep through anything; notice how we didn't wake her up this morning? She takes after her father, a little lazy bum. Besides we have three or four hours until she wakes up." Sora looked shocked. "Like I said, just like her father." Kairi teased and Sora laughed.

They sat there in silence for a while awkwardly not knowing who should start talking or what they should talk about first. Kairi was the first to break the ice.

"You're very good with her, I can already tell that she likes you a lot." Kairi smiled proudly.

"Kai you have no idea, I already love her so much." She nodded, understanding completely "I never want to leave her, she's so perfect and I cannot believe I've already missed so much of her life." Sora stated disappointedly. "Could you tell me about it?"

"Tell you about what?"

"The pregnancy, her, you, everything. I've missed so much and I just want to know what happened."

"Um, wow, Okay sure." she responded hesitantly and Sora noticed.

"Are you okay?"

Just a few minutes ago they were laughing and opening up to one another, but now she was putting up her walls and he was afraid she was going to shut him out again.

"It's just that, t-that whole time was a living hell. I-I don't think you even understand."

She whispered as she curled herself up in a ball and stared mindlessly at the wall in front of her. They sat in an uncomfortable silence, refusing to meet each other's eyes.

"I found out I was pregnant two months after you left…" Kairi blurted out.

_Kairi couldn't believe it, it couldn't be true there was no way that she could be pregnant. Sure she had been feeling sick, and yeah she took the test to rule out the option, but to actually be pregnant? There had to be a mistake. They had been careful! This just couldn't be possible._

_He was gone now, he had left her alone, and now she was pregnant?! _

_She started shaking uncontrollably staring at the white stick with the little pink pluses. She was alone, there was no way she could do it, she couldn't handle this._

_She pulled out her cellphone and called the only person in her life that she still trusted. _

"_Hey Kairi, what's up?" _

"_Riku…" Kairi sobbed out _

"_Kairi what's wrong?" he asked panicked knowing her fragile state. Kairi would call Riku crying violently at all times of the day, or even at night feeling so lonely, so hurt and completely hopeless._

_She was a wreck and her life was hanging on by a thread, she didn't eat, she had violent rages followed by spells of neediness, she hated _him_ then she loved _him_, wanted to kill _him_ then wanted to kiss _him_. Honestly, he didn't know what was to become of his friend, and it scared him._

"_I can't … I-I just can't!" Those words made his body turn numb as he feared for the worst._

"_I'm coming over stay there."_

"_Riku, I'm scared…"_

"_It's ok, everything is going to be okay"_

_They stayed on the phone until Riku arrived at the apartment. He didn't trust her to be alone with her thoughts. He encouraged her that everything was going to be okay the entire drive over to her house. He ran up the drive way and up the stairs, walked in the apartment and found her in her room hysterically sobbing on her bed. It broke his heart._

"_Kairi…" He whispered and brought her up in his arms and held her close. "What's wrong please…"_

_She handed him the stick and he looked at it in shock. There was no way in hell this could be true. This wasn't supposed to happen, none of this was supposed to happen!_

"_I-is this? Are you sure? Kairi?"_

"_I'm pregnant, Riku" she whispered._

_They sat there in silence while Riku held Kairi tight both fully processing it for the first time._

"_I'll kill that son of a bitch if ever comes back-"_

"_Riku!" Kairi pleaded "He's your best friend"_

"_Friends don't do that to people. Friends don't leave without a word! Friends don't abandon their pregnant fiancé!" Riku boomed with venom in his voice._

"… _He doesn't know."_

"_Still. Kairi… you're not alone. I'm here, I want to help you out as much as I can. You have friends, you have family, and we will support you no matter what you chose to do." _

"_Riku, of course I'm keeping it! I'll love it but damn this fucking timing! God dammit Sora why the fuck are you doing this to me!" she screamed out in emotional turmoil. Riku just hugged tighter, almost desperately. _

"_Hey, calm down its okay. Like I said I'm here to help with everything." Riku pressed a chaste kiss on Kairi's head and held her until she had calmed herself. _

"_Everything is going to be okay"_

Kairi walked over to the bookshelf and grabbed a few albums and set them on Sora's lap. He began to page through them while Kairi continued to speak.

"Riku was the only one who knew for a while, he was the one taking me to appointments and towards the end of it, he moved in with me. When people found out, they pitied me and were joyous all at the same time. Selphie wanted to throw me a shower, naturally, your mom was excited but felt guilty, and my dad was ready to search every realm and world to beat your ass." She murmured.

Sora looked at the pictures and they were all of a teeny tiny Hikari wrapped up in a blanket sleeping. "Oh God, Kairi she's ador-"

"- On June 15 she was born, 5 pounds and 2 ounces. She was 1 month early and she was tiny, I was so scared. Scared to be a mother, scared she wouldn't make it but as soon as they put her in my arms. "It was warm, it was safe, and I felt whole for the first time since you left." Kairi actually smiled at memory and Sora hugged her and kissed her head.

"I felt like a horrible mother, I couldn't decide on what to name her! But after a few days she finally opened her eyes and all I could see was you, my light, and so I named her Hikari because I fucking needed light in my life again."

"Kairi… I can't even-"

"Don't. We've already been through this. I just needed you to know how hard it was."

Sora gently pulled her to him and she rested her head on chest "Kairi, I really want to fix this."

"I know," her voice was muffled by his chest "It's just going to take time." She pulled back to look him in the eye "But I think you should go see your mom, I can't hog you all to myself."

"Alright, but hey do you have any of my old clothes, I couldn't tell you the last time I've changed."

"Actually they're at your mother's house."

He laughed "Alright well I guess it's good I'm going over there now." He stood up and scratched the back of his head not really sure how to say good bye.

Luckily Kairi picked up on his vibe and pulled him into another hug "Just because I told you to leave, doesn't mean you don't have to come back."

"I'll be back tomorrow afternoon, I promise." He held her tightly before they mutually let go and he gave a small wave before walking out the door.

He was half way down the drive way when Kairi called out to him.

"Sora, wait!" she ran after him "I just needed to… it's just…well.." she had a conflicted look in her eyes as she hesitantly moved closer to him, their eyes locking. Slowly he wrapped her arms around his neck and she got up on her tip toes.

She could feel his warm breath on her lips and he slowly closed his eyes. When their lips touched, warmth spread throughout their bodies. Just as they became comfortable with it, Kairi pulled away with a dazed look in her eyes.

"Just in case." She whispered, staring at his lips before turning around and heading back into the house.

Sora walked throughout the deserted town with a huge smile on his face, he couldn't believe how well life was going for him now, he honestly felt that life could go back to the way was. They could go back to the way they were.

When he arrived at his childhood house he walked in the door to see his mom reading a book and drinking tea with honey, he assumed.

He smiled and called out "Hi mom"

Her head whipped up and she stared at him with wide eyes before running over and holding him closely.

"Sora! My baby! Oh my god my baby!" she sobbed kissing his cheeks and ruffling his hair.

They stayed up for a few hours talking about what happened while he was gone. He told her that he had met Hikari and she cried and told him that she was worried that he would never knew her. His mother chastised him for leaving but was too happy to see that he was alive and well.

It was nice to talk to his mom and let her baby him but when it came time to sleep, he couldn't deny that taking a shower and the sight of bed made him almost burst out into tears of joy. It was so soft and comfortable and before he knew it he was fast asleep.

_Silence, Bone chilling silence was all there was._

_Everything was pitch black, and there was nothing to guide him in his reach. He was wandering aimlessly in the endless darkness._

_He'd been here before; he knew what was going to happen. _

_An ear piercing cry broke the perfect silence and he winced and shut his eyes._

_He knew it wasn't real, he knew she wasn't really hurt but it still cut him deep inside._

_**Why don't you run to her, Sora?**_

_This voice wasn't his; it was cruel, menacing, and highly manipulative._

_It was an intrusi, an enemy that had no physical being but could invade his mind and destroy his heart if he didn't fight back._

_Luckily he had encountered enough of them to know their tactics and schemes. He found that ignoring the voice worked best._

_**Don't you love her, or was she just a good fuck?**__ Damn Intrusi…_

"_Fuck off!" he growled. Okay, so ignoring the voice was easier said than done, and Kairi's voice was still screaming out and calling for him. But that's what he just had to keep telling himself, that it was just a voice, it wasn't real._

_All he had to do was focus, channel Kingdom Hearts, and the voices would stop and he would come back to reality._

_**Still channeling Kingdom Hearts I see, imbecile. Don't make me laugh.**_

_Sora smirked, eyes closed, trying to keep his thoughts peaceful and his body calm. But the screaming only got louder._

"_SORA! Oh God please, HELP, STOP! SORA!" It sounded so close that He snapped his eyes open in shock._

_There, about ten feet away was a hooded figure holding a knife against a hysterical Kairi's neck._

"_KAIRI!" he screamed out in terror. This was not normal, there were never actual people in this dimension. Panic washed over him, what if this truly was Kairi._

_The keyblade instantly flashed into his hand as he quickly charged at the hooded figure. He swung hard aiming for the enemy's head and just before he made contact, time stood still. _

_The hooded figure dug the knife deep into her throat and slit it across her neck slowly before he disappeared. Kairi's eyes bugged out before taking one last shuttering breath and collapsing to the ground._

_Sora dropped on his knees next to her. The pungent smell of coopery blood was chocking him. His hands were covered in her blood as he desperately tried to heal her with no avail. His mind was swirling, was this real, was Kairi really dead? _

_Sora's head was pounding and the intrusi was laughing maniacally._

_**You thought you defeated us, Keybearer? Oh no, we've only gotten stronger.**_

Sora woke up with blankets wildly thrown around his sweat slick body. He quickly took note of his surroundings as he tried to calm his rapid heartbeat.

That wasn't a dream, it was a warning.

**A/N: Alright there it is! Sorry about the long wait again! but you know, life, it gets in the way.**

**Love it? Hate it? Leave a review! ;)**

**~Lovely **


	5. Watch The Time Go

**A/N:**** I'm sorry about the wait… I wish I could just blame school and claim that its getting so busy with finals approaching! But that would be a lie. I have plenty of time, but you would not believe how hard it is to find time to write while trying to keep this a secret from your 4 best friends that you live with, not to mention my slight writers block (slight!) But everything's worked out now and I should be posting on a weekly basis again :) **

**About this chapter****: I like it, I have no idea why but I feel it flows the best so far. Feel free to disagree. ****Also song chapter and begging quote are from _Coffee and Cigarettes_ by _Augustana_**

**Word Count without A/N's :**** 1,022**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I don't even own Sora, but if I did, the things I'd do haha.**

**I would like to take this time to thank all my reviewers and since I FINALLY don't feel too rushed to post I will respond to ALL my reviewers! I've wanted to do this since I started writing but I always get to excited to just post a chapter to take the time and actually do it. **

**I am so touched by all your wonderful reviews it makes me so happy. Last chapter I had 3 people review within an hour of the story being posted. But seriously I want to bring you all in a huge group hug**

**SiChri:**** You're my first reviewer for this story and thank you so much for continuing to follow it! I'm glad you're loving this but about Sora leaving Kairi? Um….. well… don't know what I can say without spoiling anything! haha Enjoy!**

**OOO:**** Hope you're still enjoying!**

**Khheroxasoray****: wow your penname is hard to type haha. Thank you so much! I hope you're still enjoying the story (and the backstory)!**

**Sora93kairi:**** You are my most frequent reviewer! High-Five! I'm so glad you're enjoying this and I'm glad you're enjoying little sweet and sassy Hikari as much I do! She has some pretty adorable moments in the next chapter (chapter 6) that I think you'll enjoy! I'm glad to see you're worried about Kairi and Crazy Psycho Killer but I don't know what's gonna happen yet sooooo yeah haha (I thought of the wizard of Oz too!)**

**Kai:**** Hope you enjoy this! Thanks for reviewing! **

**Nuesuada****: Thank you! I hope you're still enjoying!**

**Kirie:**** Thanks for complementing my writing! It means so much, I'm so touched! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**StarChasers****: well… I didn't update that week, or the next… BUT HERE IT IS! I'm really trying to have the next chapter posted tomorrow or Thursday, promise! Enjoy! (hope it's worth the wait)**

**Ampcje:**** I'm so glad you think highly of this! I hope this update still has you believing that haha**

**Guest:**** Thank's for being considerate of my schoolwork! I hope you enjoy this chapter and more is to come VERY SOON! (promise)**

**Guest****: I can't believe I inspired someone to write a fanfiction. Never would I ever think I could do that, EVER I am so touched like beyond touched I feel like I won an academy award and have been walking around my apartment like I won the lottery! This comment really gave me the driving force to finish this chapter and push through my block. YOU have inspired ME. **

_**I LOVE YOU ALL**_

…

_We'll scream at night, to make it go away..._

_So put me on a plane, and fly me to anywhere..._with you_..._

"Sora, honey are you ok?" his mother asked with great concern placing his breakfast in front of him.

Truth be told, he was still on edge from his nightmare. It took all he had in him not to rush over to Kairi's apartment and make sure she was okay but there was no need to worry her, this was _his _problem. Besides, he felt in his heart that she was alright.

He kept playing through the dream over and over again in his head. It felt so real, almost as if it was déjá vu with the exception of the ending. Did the voice belong to hooded figure that killed Kairi? Are the hooded figures a part of the Intrusi? Why were they back? He cleared his mission, stopping the intrusi dead in their tracks, creating an impermeable shield around his heart. Kingdom Hearts prevailed, there was no way this dream could mean the Intrusi are actually returning, could it?

"Sora?" He felt a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of thoughts. His mom gave him a worried glance.

"Sorry, Mom just a bad dream getting to me." He offered her a small smile and she simply nodded not wanting to pry too much.

"Well what are your plans today?"

"Um, I'll probably just reacquaint myself with the Island, maybe go see Riku."

"Good, just text me if you're not coming back tonight." She pulled him into a long, tight hug.

"I will, promise."

"I just feel like every time you leave, there's only a fifty percent chance you'll come back."

Sora felt extremely guilty and gave her shoulders a squeeze.

"Mom, I'm not going anywhere without telling you, I've learned my lesson." She smiled and shooed him out the door yelling "The world has changed a lot since you've left, you have a lot to catch up on!"

…

The Market Place was virtually the same as it always been, loud, busy, and full of various vendors. But what had changed were the people running around streets. For instance, Tidus' younger brother, Ryu, was thirteen, had no build, braces, and was shy, but now here he was, completely ripped, perfect teeth, and girls hanging all over him! Sora laughed and shook his head continuing to make his way through the thick crowds of people when someone caught his eye.

Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka were all at this kiosk that sold various home décor items, and for a second, Sora hesitated at a loss of what to say. He couldn't just walk over and be like _"Hey guys! What's up?"_ Could He?

But he was in luck, Wakka happened to notice him. "Tidus, that's Sora, yeah?" he asked nudging Tidus in the ribs and pointed in Sora's direction. Tidus turned around and instantly noticed him and nodded with wide eyes.

"Hot damn, who would've thought? SORA!" Tidus ran over to his old friend brushing past all the traffic with ease and Wakka was hot on his heels.

Sora smiled and waved as he also pushed through the crowd to meet up with his friends. Tidus pulled him into a friendly hug. "Hey, when'd you get back?" Tidus asked with a huge grin on his face that equally mirrored Sora's

"Um, two nights ago…" Sora scratched his head having a hard time believing it had only been two days! "But today's my first real day out and about, you know? How have guys been? It's been a while."

Tidus' smile faltered a bit "It's been three years, Sora," instead of sounding accusatory, it sounded hurt, surprised, and slightly incredulous. "But yeah um I've been good, just got promoted to the head of the marketing department at Destiny Inc. Wakka here just got engaged last night." Wakka smiled sheepishly and Sora let out a happy laugh

"Really, to anyone I know?" Sora teased

"You remember Mischa, yeah? We started dating right around the time you left?"

"Oh yeah, blonde, tan, freckles?" Sora pondered sorting out Wakka's plethora of women.

"Mhm, that's my girl" He smiled

"Well congratulations man." Sora offered sincerely noticing that he was happier than he ever had been. "But what about you, Tidus, are you ever going to settle down?" Tidus, like Wakka, had gone through women like water and never held down a girlfriend more than a couple of months.

"Actually Selphie and I have been married for a little over a year. Right, Honey?" He asked putting an arm around the girl hiding behind him.

Sora was shocked for a multitude of reasons. First off, Tidus and Selphie, married? They all joked about it but he never thought in a million years they would! But then it hit him he had missed two of his dearest friends' wedding and it hurt him.

"Wow guys congats, Sorry I couldn't make it" he apologized.

"We shouldn't be the ones you're apologizing to." Selphie growled refusing to meet his eyes.

Sora was shocked by the usually giddy, bubbly, and talkative girl's dark fervor, until he remembered what he did to Kairi.

"Selph, I've already seen Kairi and Hikari and trust me, I'm doing everything to make it up to them." He tried to convey as much sincerity as he could muster to express his guilt. She simply just shook her head.

"You don't get it," she looked into his eyes but he didn't see hatred or anger only determination. "You've already done so much." He gave her a confused look and she sighed.

"Come on Tidus, we have to find the perfect hanging basket for our porch!" she whined sounding a bit more like the Selphie he knew.

"Alright, bye Sora nice seeing you man. Primo's Friday at seven?" he asked while being dragged off by his woman.

Sora laughed, "Yeah sure thing! But hey could you tell me where I could find Riku?"

"Uh…He'll be at home until like 7, same house as before!" Wakka yelled back trying to keep up.

Tidus turned to Wakka once Sora was out of ear shot. "What I'd pay to be a fly on the wall during that confrontation." Wakka nodded and Selphie smirked.

**A/N: I know this is kind of a filler chapter (the point was to create more suspense for the next chapter) but I felt it was a good stopping place. The next chapter is going to be intense and I'm so excited to write it! The next update should be so quick since I'm going to start the new chapter as soon as I post this! **

**Also I'm going to start asking a random question at the end of chapters to get an outsider's opinion on things in my life, feel free to answer haha and I'm going to post a random fact about myself just to create more of a reader-reviewer bond :).**

**My random fact is that before I started posting this story, I decided to tell my boyfriend of 3 years about my 7 year-long love for fanfiction. Which went okay, I guess, but somehow he found my penname and read my stories so I changed it quickly to lovelyluck49 on a whim without even thinking. The only thing in my penname that holds any meaning is that the number 49 is the number of the lifeguard stand associated with my original OTS Ryan/Marissa from the OC. **

**Also if you happen to be reading this, Matt, don't ever tell me haha :) **

**This chapter's question is****: Should I get a tattoo of a small (half an inch) Paopu fruit near my hip, and if you think I should, (or if you don't, I don't really care) should it be full or should I have two tiny bites out of it?**

**Hugs and Cookies!  
Lovely **


	6. I've Lost Who I Am

**A/N:**** Have you ever seen the heartburn commercial where the people try to eat and the food hits them in the face? Well, that was this chapter. I was utterly shocked by how hard it was to write this chapter! I thought I'd be able to spit it out and edit it real quick but was horribly mistaken. I'm sorry this wasn't as quick as I promised, but I did try. Anyways this chapter is longer than the last, yay! The only downside is I'm still not 100% happy with the way it turned out. Oh well. Moving on now.**

**Words****: 1,573**

**Song:**_**Shattered**_** by **_**Trading Yesterday**_

_**Review Responses:**_** Thanks to all the new favorites/followers!**

**Khhero:**** thanks for letting me shorten your penname! Haha. As for the tattoo, I'd love for my boyfriend and me to get matching paopu fruit tattoos but at this time he's against me even getting the tattoo sooooo yeah, haha.**

**SiChri****: Isn't crazy how taboo reading fan fiction is? Only my boyfriend and one of my best friends of 6 years know and she only knows because she told me about her fandoms first. If am getting the tattoo I'm definitely keeping it small without the bites. As for the story, the plot is still unfolding and there is so much more to be revealed!**

**Sora93Kairi:**** I have a Primo's in my town and it's a bar! (like I'm making it in the story) Sorry about your brother, I'm an only child so I wouldn't know about that stuff haha. **

**Waytooblivion:**** Thank you so much, it seriously means so much! As for the tattoo I will definitely do a full one IF I get it, I'm still not sure. Here's the next update hope you enjoy!**

**Alright, I'll shut up now and let you read.**

…

…_All this time spent in vain_

_Wasted years, Wasted gain_

_All is lost, Hope remains_

_ And this war's not over…_

Sora forgot how peaceful the islands were. He smiled as the ocean breeze hit his face, passing by the beach. He loved the street Riku lived on, it was practically on the ocean and was surrounded by all of his favorite shops and restaurants. People were always happy and laughter could be heard anywhere on the street.

Once Riku's house was in view, he couldn't help but pick up his pace and kept a smile on his face. Sure he had missed Kairi the most but Riku was definitely up there. He was his best friend, business partner, and fellow wielder. If anyone would understand Sora's hardships, it would be Riku.

Sora quickly climbed the old rickety stairs skipping one or two here and there not wanting to waste any time to reunite with his best friend since birth. When he made it to the door he quickly caught his breath and tried to keep the goofy grin off his face.

He rang the doorbell and waited what felt like a painfully long time until he heard the door unlock. Sora's eyes were bright with excitement though his smile didn't betray him.

When Riku opened the door, he stared at Sora in utter disbelief blinking as if he was going to disappear, but than his eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. Sora looked at him, confused, and Riku let out a bitter laugh.

"What did you think you'd be welcomed back with open arms and smiles after you fucked us all over?" Riku growled causing Sora's jaw to drop.

"Riku, I thought you of all people would understand." Sora practically begged voice full of hurt. But Riku's eyes lit up with anger.

"You just _left_, do you even know how much that hurt? Not just me, your mom and Kairi too! Do you even know what you left behind?" his voice was shaking in anger

"If this is about Hikari, Kai-"

"Y-You know about Ari?" Riku asked incredulously grabbing Sora by his shoulders.

"Well yeah, when I first got back I went to see Kai first." Riku let him go and shook his head in disbelief.

"I can't believe that she let you see her, she said she'd be strong, that she would cut you out of her life completely…" Riku muttered more to himself than Sora, but then his eyes quickly snapped back meet the other.

"You listen here," The tone of his voice was oddly calm despite his trembling hands, and his icy glare was holding Sora's gaze. "Stay away from them." He warned with no nonsense in his voice.

Sora couldn't believe his ears, this was _his_ relationship, _his_ daughter.

"Riku what the hell? Where do you get off-"

"I've spent way too much time and put way too much effort into fixing your mess. Kairi has come way too far to fall back into that nightmare again! They finally can be happy ad they don't need any more disappointment in their lives! Ari doesn't need to be abandoned again."

"I've made a mistake," Sora explained calmly. "I see that now and despite the fact that I messed up, I'm trying to move on and repair the damage." Riku scoffed

"When you left, the Kairi we all knew and loved died and was replaced by this screaming, crying, angry girl who lost all will to live." Riku paused, clenching his fists. "It broke my heart to see her in so much pain, so much agony. She was inconsolable, especially after she realized she was pregnant. Her world was spiraling out of control I had to move in with her o-or she might've," Riku looked at Sora hoping he would understand. "I had to dress her, I had to make sure she was eating right, I had to take her to her appointments because she couldn't do it by herself she couldn't even hold down a job." Sora shook his head in disbelief and pushed past Riku entering the house.

"Come on Riku you've always been a tad overprotective of Kairi, even before I left you never thought I'd be good enough for her." He accused, voice laced with anger.

"You think I'm exaggerating, think I'm overreacting? Well one of us needed to save her from herself!" He screamed pushing Sora into a wall. "She's been self-medicating since you left! Don't believe me? Check her medicine cabinet, you're sure to find bottles upon bottles of oxycodone!"

"And you let her?!" Sora pushed back, nostrils flaring. How dare he chastise him for leaving but then allow her to do drugs.

"You're so fucking dense, Sora. If it wasn't for me, Ari wouldn't have survived through the second trimester! Kairi was killing herself, I wouldn't even trust that girl with a knife!" Riku held his hands over his face before meeting his eyes again.

"You were my best friend, my _brother,_ we fought alongside each other, we protected each other, I trusted you with my life and then you just left? If anyone would've understood, it would've been me. Even worse, you destroyed our best friend. I told you to protect her! How could you be such a selfish son of a bitch?"

Sora slumped against the wall shielding his face with his hands.

"At the time, I thought it was for the best. But now- I just- I'm… I'm so sorry. " Sora pleaded with a few tears running down his face. He hurt his best friend, damaged the love of his life, and fucked up everything in between.

"I need you to watch this." Riku wasn't fazed at all by Sora's apology as he stormed into the living room and popped a movie into the VCR while Sora followed behind. "I need you to see the mess you created."

The TV showed a young Hikari crawling around in her purple onesie. Her hair was much shorter than it is today, and actually was spiking up just like her fathers. The date in the corner read that it was November 19, 2010.

"_Hikari, look at the camera. Look at Riku."_ Sora couldn't help but crack a small smile at Riku's baby voice and how adorable Hikari was.

Ari wacked the camera with her little hand and Riku's laughter could be heard. _"Let's go find Momma, k?"_ The camera changed focus as Riku picked up Ari and headed down the hall to the bed room.

"_Hey, Kairi?"_ Riku's voice switched from baby talk, but it was still soft and soothing.

The camera showed a frail Kairi, thin, pail, and disheveled, palming a bottle of pills in the reflection of the bathroom mirror. Her head snapped towards the camera, eyes blaring in anger.

"_Get that the fuck out of here!"_ she shrieked whacking the camera away from her.

"_Come on Kairi, you need to eat."_ Riku begged, exasperatedly.

"_I ate yesterday"_ she murmured crawling into an unmade bed.

"_No. No you didn't. Kairi please you have to eat, for Hikari." _Riku spoke as if she was an unruly child.

"_Riku, I can't do this!"_ she sobbed out, desperately squeezing her pillow "I don't want this!" her face was streaming with tears and her face was red a puffy.

Just as Riku moved to comfort Kairi, Ari let out a piercing wail in accompaniment with her mother. The last sounds of the video were Riku desperately shushing the baby and Kairi's loud sobs.

Sora couldn't swallow the lump in his throat, Riku was truly a godsend to Kairi and Hikari's lives and he couldn't be more thankful. But that feeling of self-loathing also nestled in the pit of his stomach and he couldn't get the image of the broken Kairi out of his mind

"Riku, I can't thank you enough. You saved not only Kairi but my daughter too-" Riku waved his finger at Sora in warning

"-Just because you impregnated Kairi, doesn't make Ari your daughter. You know nothing about her, you are nothing to her. I love Ari as if she was mine, and I will never let anyone hurt her again, you got that?"

Sora's eyes narrowed as he moved closer to Riku, his voice was calm yet strong, hard with determination.

"I appreciate everything you've done for them but I _am_ Hikari's father and you will not stop me from being a part of her life." Sora held his ground "I just got them back and I have no intention of letting them go, ever."

Riku pulled out Way to the Dawn and held it up, taking a fighting stance "That wasn't a suggestion."

Sora felt a strange rush of power deep within his heart which manifested throughout his body like the cool tide. This power was irresistible like liquid gold flowing through his veins.

He smirked, approaching Riku and effortlessly threw him into a wall with such force that all the frames fell and Riku let out a grunt of pain.

The power left Sora as quickly as it came, his breath hitching in his throat and his eyes frantically scanning the room confused at what just happened.

Holding his hands up in front of his face, he noticed that they had a faint black smoke radiating off of them. Riku looked up shocked, noticing Sora's hands and that his irises were like liquid ebony slowly fading back to cerulean.

Sora's eyes met Riku's in mirrored confusion but only silence filled the room.

_**Once darkness touches the heart, Keybearer, it consumes.**_

…

**A/N****: Well… was it worth all the suspense? Well, I just wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving (for those who celebrate) and I probably will update after the holiday next week!**

**My random fact:**** I was in a competing marching band in high school and loved every second. I played the vibes in the front ensemble and wish I could go back and play every day.**

**Reviewer question!**** How did you get into fan fiction? How long have you read it? Was ffnet your first fanfic site?**

**First reviewer gets to name chapter 4 (since I never named it properly!)**

**Much love,**

**Lovely**


	7. It's A Broken Hallelujah

**A/N****: Hello! I'mmmmmmmm back! I love this chapter, it is my favorite. I've spent a week writing it and it's loooooong. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!**

**Word count****: 3,749 without A/N's and quotes (I'm so proud of myself!)**

**Song:**** Hallelujah~Jeff Buckley**

**About this chapter:**** Just, be open minded ok? A lot and I mean a lot is going on.**

_**Reviews**_**:**

**StarChasers:**** Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy!**

**WayTooOblivion:**** Thank you! I wrote Riku the way I see him, very protective dedicated to his friends like how he was Days. I'm glad you're enjoying and hope you like this chapter!**

**Sora93kairi:**** haha small world!**

**Khhero****: Thank you! I personally like this whole darker Sora and hope you do too! Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Trick36****: I'm so glad you're enjoying this! I'm personally proud of this chapter hope you find it interesting and attention grabbing.**

**Kirie:**** I'm so glad you're still reading this! And you're too kind! It means so much that you like my writing, it made my day! I hope this long post keeps you refreshed and I hope you continue reading the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't even own my car.**

_**The story continues….**_

…

_There was a time when you let me know  
What's really going on below  
But now you never show that to me do you?  
And remember when I moved in you?  
And the holy dove was moving too  
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah_

Lungs burning, chest heaving, mind racing, body running, Sora couldn't feel his legs as they pounded the pavement running as fast as he could toward Kairi's apartment. He was so deep in thought he didn't even acknowledge the waves and greetings of various people he knew.

_What was that, that power? Where did it come from? Am I dangerous? Am I a monster? I don't regret it, it was so irresistible, indescribable, and cold like the touch of cold metal pressed against skin. Was that darkness? _

The two mile run passed in record time as he stood on the sidewalk desperately trying to catch his breath and keep his balance when something occurred to him.

_I just lost control of myself and threw Riku against a wall with no problem a mere ten minutes ago… Why the hell would I come here and jeopardize both Hikari and Kairi's safety?_

He mentally smacked himself at his own stupidity and started walking towards his mother's house when navyblue Volkswagen Jetta pulled into the drive way next to him with the window down.

"Sora, what are you doing here?" Kairi asked amused knowing that his mother's house was a good hike from here.

Sora had just barely stopped his wheezing but he was sure he was still dripping sweat.

"Uh… just going for a run." Well it wasn't a lie exactly.

"Jeeze you look exhausted!" Kairi looked him over incredulously. In all the years Kairi had known Sora, he was a natural athlete she had never seen him in such a sweat. "Come on inside, I'll get you some water." In all honestly, she really wanted to spend time with him and this was just a shameless ploy for her own selfish needs.

"Alright, thanks Kai." Sora smiled and followed her but deep down he was praying, pleading that he wouldn't hurt them knowing his concern wouldn't falter until he figured out what happened.

When he crossed the threshold, he couldn't help but smile and take a deep calming breath. Despite what Kairi said, this apartment would always be home to him. He had so many good memories here. Every nick, crack, and crevice had a story. For instance, in the kitchen there was dip in the countertop from when he put the hot pan directly on it casing it to melt while making her surprise birthday dinner, or under the couch in the living room there's a small red wine stain from the night he proposed. He offered to clean it up instantly but she insisted _"Leave it, so we can look back and laugh at how deliriously happy we were in this exact moment."_

When he walked in to the living room he was shocked to see his mom sitting on the floor playing with Ari.

"SORA!" Ari screamed jumping up and running over to him, who in returned picked the girl up and held her in his arms. "Hey Ari how are you?"

The little girl grimaced and started wiggling. "Ew, you wet, and smell." Sora laughed and put her back on the ground and turned towards his mom.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" He asked in confusion. She just laughed.

"I'm Ari's nanny sweetheart."

Elise Kyoukou had suffered a setback when Sora left. In order to avoid questions from Hikari about her father, Kairi requested that Ari wouldn't know Elise as her grandmother, but instead as her nanny. Elise was hurt at first but understood Kairi's intentions. She was honored to help raise her grandchild and was able to spend as much time with her as she wanted. Ari loved her Nanny Dairu as much as humanly possible but there was that undying pain of not truly being a grandmother.

"Sora, Nanny Dairu is your mamma?" Ari asked with wonderment

"Dairu?" Sora asked in bewilderment.

"Sora," Kairi chastised, "That's your mother's maiden name."

"Why would you use her maiden name?"

"You try and teach a three year old how to pronounce Kyoukou" she smirked and he shrugged.

"Well," Elise stood up and brushed off her pants.

"I'm going to head home now. Good bye Ari, I love you little paopu, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" she leaned down and hugged the child that eagerly hugged her back.

"Love you too Nanny Dairu." Elise then kissed both Kairi and Sora's cheek.

"I love you both." To which they responded with their own 'love you too's

"So!" Ari asked once it was just the three of them. "What we gonna do now?"

"Well I was getting Sora some water, and then I think it's nap time for a certain girl…"

"Awwww, but mamma Sora's here!" Hikari begged.

"He'll be here when you wake up too." Kairi called from the kitchen and Ari pouted and looked at Sora with big sad eyes. Sora had to suppress fussing over how adorable she was and try not to give into her pleas.

"I promise" she looked at him skeptically and hesitantly raised her pinky to him. He smiled and wrapped his own around hers.

"Fine," she let out exasperatedly "But only if Sora tucks me in!"

"That's up to him sweetie." She said as she returned with glass in hand.

"Come on Ari" he grabbed her up in his arms again as she let out a cheer and headed towards the room. By the time Sora had finished tucking the child in, she was fast asleep and Riku's words came to mind.

"_You're so fucking dense, Sora. If it wasn't for me, Ari wouldn't have survived through the second trimester! Kairi was killing herself, I wouldn't even trust that girl with a knife!"_

With a hard swallow of guilt, Sora leaned in and kissed her forehead.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered "I will never hurt you again, I promise."

…

Kairi was in the kitchen cutting up vegetables for dinner, occasionally checking the oven to make sure her chicken was ok. Sora stood in the doorway for a few moments enjoying the scene playing out in front of him. He reminisced about the times he would come home from the gym to find Kairi in the kitchen cooking dinner for the two of them. Back then he would wrap his arms around her from behind and kiss her neck to let her know he was home, but now?

"Thanks for the water." Sora said as he placed the empty glass in the sink causing her to jump slightly in surprise.

"It was no problem, really" she blushed tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear.

"How was work?" he asked casually leaning up against counter, running his hand over the divot.

She giggled, stirring the sauce "Class was great, everyone shut up and some even properly participated. What did you do today, besides go running?"

"I saw Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie in the market place. I still can't believe they're married, and Wakka, engaged?" He shook his head in disbelief.

"Wait, Wakka's engaged?!" Kairi shrieked in surprise.

"Yeah, proposed last night." Kairi just shook her head.

"Anything else?"

"Um yeah, I went and saw Riku." Kairi stopped what she was doing and turned around without a word. She knew that things would not have gone well.

"Yeah, he wasn't too happy to see me." Sora let out a nervous laugh.

"What did he tell you?" She asked, head bowed and eyes gazing at the floor knowing Riku had played up her vulnerable state.

"He showed me a video." Sora stated, his voice suddenly becoming serious and her head popped up in shock.

"H-He recorded me?" She sounded trapped, embarrassed, ashamed, but most of all, she feared what he saw.

"Oxycodone? Kairi, really? You palmed a bottle, that's 4-5 pills easily!" His gaze shot a ping

of guilt and remorse through her entire body because he wasn't judgmental, he wasn't preachy.

He was just worried sick, his eyes said it all.

Her bottom lip quivered like a guilty child being chastised by her parents.

"Kairi, I'm so sorry," he pulled her into a hug and whispered into her hair rubbing soothing circles into her back. "Riku, was right. Everything he said was true. I'll never be able to forgive myself, I'm so sorry."

"No, Sora," she sobbed pushing him off of her "The pills are _my_ problem, you didn't give them to me, you didn't shove them down my throat, this was _my_ fault. Everything just got to me, you know?" she explained trying to find reason for her substance abuse.

"I decided it was better to feel nothing, then the pain. The pain of raising our daughter by myself, knowing that I'd never get that happy moment when I'd tell you I'm pregnant and you'd spazz out. It sickened me that you had no part in naming her. I knew that you'd never see Ari's first steps, or hear her first word.

"At every major life event my heart broke knowing that you weren't there and you may never be there. The pain was endless, the pills fixed it. I would rather never feel any other emotion again then deal with that pain."

Sora couldn't help but cry at her words, his guilt at an all-time high. He pulled her to him again.

"How can you say that is not my fault?!"

"Because, the pain was something I created."

"Kairi, please be honest. Are you still taking the pills?" He asked lightly knowing he was treading on egg shells. She nodded and let her tears run down her face. She had to bite her lip to keep from sobbing, ashamed of her dependency.

Sora let go of her and took off toward the bedroom at a brisk pace with Kairi trailing behind, trying to keep up. He went into the bathroom took out the 5 prescription bottles full of pills and poured them into the toilet without missing a beat.

Kairi stood in the corner crying knowing better than to interfere.

When he was done, he turned to her with a wild look in his eye.

"Are these all of them?" she nodded still crying unable to control herself.

"Kairi." He warned making sure she wasn't lying.

"I promise." She gasped and he flushed the toilet then turned around, his face right in front of hers with his hands on her shoulders.

"You don't need these anymore, okay? You won't feel any more pain, okay?" he told he sternly and she nodded. Suddenly he started placing kisses all over her face desperately, pulling her into his arms once more.

"Don't ever do this again," he begged "you're precious to me." She desperately wrapped her arms around him squeezing as tight as he possibly could as if to absorb him, shamelessly sobbing on his shoulder. In a clumsy stumble, Sora led her over to their, her, bed and comforted her until the tears stopped and she could regain composure.

"Thank you." She whimpered leaning her head into the crook of his neck. His thumb still tracing small circles on her lower back and he pressed a kiss to her hair.

"Riku told me I had to stay away from you and Ari, but I can't. I'm not going to leave you two ever again Kairi, I promise. Riku will have to kill me himself I he wants that to happen. I may be being selfish but I don't care, I want this and I'm here, for good."

"Really?" Kairi asked in shock. She was honestly expecting him to head for the hills after talking to Riku, honoring his best friend's wishes. "I want this too, I can make my own decisions and I believe you. But if you ever do anything like this ever again, do not even think about coming back." She glared at him, trying to look as intimidating as possible.

"I wouldn't dream of it." She leaned into him letting herself completely relax against him and for a brief second, it felt like the old days before he left.

"My Chicken!" Kairi screamed, jumping off the bed and ran into the kitchen where water boiling over, burnt sauce, and dried out chicken awaited her. She hurried and tried to salvage the sad looking food but after a few failed minutes let out a growl and flung it all in the trash can.

"Pizza it is, then." She muttered grabbing her phone and dialed, holding the speaker to her ear. "Hi, I'd like to place an order for delivery… Yes, I can hold." She looked over at Sora. "Are you staying for dinner?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah sure, if that's alright." Kairi smiled in approval "Yeah, Hi can I have a large banana pepper and black olive pizza and one personal sized anchovy and pineapple pizza…okay... okay, thank you!" Kairi hung up and Sora gave her a weird look.

"Pineapple and _anchovy_?" he asked grimacing at the odd toppings

Kairi simply rolled her eyes

"…Hikari" he laughed.

By the time the pizza was delivered, Ari had woken up all excited about her 'fishy pizza' which still disgusted Sora but she devoured it like most kids inhaled candy.

"So Sora," Kairi asked biting into her slice. "What are you going to do now that you're back?"

"Actually, King Mickey is trying to set me up with a job. Ambassador of the Worlds, it's his idea of keeping the peace between everyone." Kairi looked shocked.

"Sora, that's a huge deal! Would you travel much?"

"It wouldn't be like in the past where I'd be gone for months at a time, maybe a week or two per month at most." She smiled.

"That's not bad at all. Are you excited?"

"Yeah, I guess. It will be nice to actually visit the worlds and not just focus on destroying darkness."

"You go to other worlds?" Ari piped up as the drowsiness of sleep faded and excitement kick in.

"Mhm, I help protect them." Sora was unsure how much Ari knew about the keyblade and her mother and Riku's past adventures.

"That's so cool!" Ari gushed.

They threw away the empty boxes and placed their dishes into the sink when Kairi's cell rang.

"It's Riku." She looked at Sora with uncertainty in her eyes.

"Riku!" Ari gasped grabbing the phone. "Let me answer it." She ripped the phone from her mother's hand and placed the speaker to her ear.

"Hi Riku!" Ari yelled into the receiver. "I good… Yeah I just ate pizza... Mhm. Sora's here, you know Sora right?...Ok, here's Mamma." Ari passed the phone off to Kairi.

"I-I'm just going to take this into the next room…" she whispered with a tinge of fear in her voice.

Sora nodded and turned towards Ari.

"So what do you wanna do now?" He asked the girl.

"We can finish the puzzle Nanny Dairu and I started." Sora smiled and they walked off into the living room.

…

In the kitchen, Riku was chewing Kairi's ear off.

"Are you fucking kidding me Kairi?" Riku screamed causing her to wince.

"Riku, it's not that simple. He's Ari's father, he needs to be a part of her life." She tried to reason with him.

"Are you seriously calling him a father? He's been back what, one day!? He wasn't there in the delivery room, he wasn't there at 2 am when she was wailing and you were blacked out in bed. He was never there, I had to fill his void. I'm three times the father he will ever be to Ari."

"Riku, you've supported us so much and you have done so much for Ari. But even you know that you cannot fill those shoes."

"… You've already completely forgiven him, haven't you…" She bit her lip ashamed.

"H-he promised-"

"You know what Kairi I'm sick of this, this time don't call me when he breaks his pretty promises." He spat and then angrily hung on her. Kairi sat at the table with her head in her hands.

Was she really doing the right thing?

…

In the living room Ari and Sora placed the last piece of the puzzle showing a picture of a puppy. Ari let out a whoop and Sora was pretty sure he'd never get over how perfect she was.

"Hey Sora, can you get me that?" she pointed to an album on a high shelf. He reached up and got it for her. She sat on the couch and patted the seat next to her, which he took and handed her the album.

"What is this?"

"Baby pictures!" Ari squealed "That's me," she pointed to a picture of her in a onesie lying on her back. "I was so cute" she gushed and Sora laughed.

"Yes, yes you were." He agreed

"Sora, do you have kids?" If this wasn't so ironic, he'd probably laugh.

"Uh… no" he stuttered

"Are you married?" What was with all these questions?

"No Ari." He said paging through the pictures seeing a few of Riku, his mom, Kairi, and of course Hikari through various holidays, Birthdays, and seasons.

"Do you like my Mamma?" she asked bashfully, and he sighed. _No, I love your mom_. But he couldn't say that, it wasn't appropriate.

"Your mother is one of my best friends. She is very special to me."

Ari only smirked.

"What?" He asked genuinely confused.

"Nothing" she claimed looking exactly like Kairi when she got an idea in her head, causing him to roll his eyes.

"Riku used to live here wif me an Mamma." she asked changing the subject.

"He did didn't he?"

"Mhm, we had so much fun together, me and Riku. But I'm glad Riku doesn't live here anymore." She admitted with as much guilt as a three year old could.

"Why's that?"

"At night, when Riku and Mamma went to bed, I could hear Mamma crying all night long. It made me sad." Sora was confused.

"Did Riku stay in the same room as your Mamma?" Ari nodded, and Sora clenched his fists. Sure it was a two bedroom apartment, but he never thought they would share _their_ bedroom together, none the less _their _bed.

"Yeah, he and Mamma share the big bed, even now when he stays over." Sora's eyes widened in shock. He tried to keep a level head, trusting that his two friends were just that, _friends_.

"But even now all she does is cry when he stays over, all night. Why does he make Mamma so sad but makes me happy?" she sounded worried sick and confused.

"Are you sure she was crying?" he asked more for his own benefit rather than to help her predicament. Ari nodded.

"Yeah, she goes like this" she proceeded to let out high pitched moans that caused Sora's blood to boil, those did _not_ sound like sobs.

He couldn't believe it, Kairi, _his_ Kairi was fucking his best friend.

Kairi and Riku were sleeping together.

Kairi and Riku were having sex in _their_ bed, in _their _apartment, with _their _daughter sleeping right next door.

Sora couldn't breathe and he was seeing red. His fists were clenched so tightly that his nails broke through the skin.

"Sora?" Ari placed her tiny hand on his forearm causing him to relax immediately.

_Your mother's a fucking whore._

"I'm sorry Ari, I don't know what's wrong." He replied coolly and she sighed.

"Hey," he heard Kairi greet from behind and his stomach clenched and disgust, He turned to look at her and she gasped.

Sora's eyes were pitch black where his irises should have been and he gave her glare full of hurt, betrayal, and disgust.

"Sora, are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine. I've got to go." He muttered darkly as he stood up and leaned down to kiss Ari on the head.

"Bye Ari," he said sounding like the normal Sora. He wanted to do nothing more that storm out of here but he couldn't do that to Ari. She wasn't Riku or Kairi, and he had made a promise to her. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay Sora, bye bye!" she hugged him.

With that he brushed past Kairi not even looking at her as he left the house.

"Sora!" she called after him, but he didn't even flinch.

…

Sora had half the nerve to storm over to Riku's house and kick his ass. He always knew that Riku had liked Kairi but thought he had come to terms with it, especially after they became engaged. Kairi had been vulnerable and he had taken advantage of her. His head was pounding with all the what-if's and hurtful possibilities.

_Maybe Kairi really loved Riku_

He punched the wall a nearby building overcome with all the hurt and anger.

"Fuck!" he screamed in anguish not caring about his bloody hand as he slumped against the wall crying.

_**People are only good at hurting each other.**_

Sora hung his head low, he didn't know what to believe anymore.

…

_He was in the dark again wandering aimlessly through the silence, only his footsteps could be herd. _

"_Sora! Dear God- SORA! HELP" he heard Kairi scream and he cringed following the sounds of her screams hesitantly. _

_He knew this was a dream, it was just like the last one and at any moment Kairi would appear with a keyblade held against her throat._

"_Sora!" She screamed and he could see her and the hooded figure in the distance._

_This time he didn't run, he didn't even summon his keyblade. When he was close enough, he stared at her, not even acknowledging the hooded figure._

"_How could you?" he accused and she gawked at him._

"_You slept with my best friend, my brother. You told me you loved me, I could understand if you moved on, but this is Riku!" He cried out and she started sobbing. _

"_I'm sorry! You weren't there and I was lonely! Riku was always there for me and we didn't mean to, it just happened. I don't love him, I love you!" she cried. Sora merely shook his head._

"_One time, is a mistake. Any more than that is a habit." He spat_

"_I'm so sorry"_

"_I may have left, but I cannot think of anything worse than what you two are doing to me."_

"_Sora…" she pleaded but he shook his head and turned around _this is a dream _he reminded himself _none of this is real.

"_I still love you" He whispered walking away despite her begging._

_She could fight her own battles._

**A/N: Do not kill me! I**_** know **_**Sora is acting extremely OOC right now but remember darkness is manifesting in his heart, making him a far more irrational and angry person than he ever was. The only reason he left Kairi at the end was because he knew it was a dream and he was taking his anger out on dream Kairi because he could never hurt actual Kairi. I **_**know **_**Sora would never let Kairi get hurt, but he's just venting and being all dark like…**

**Warning: Next week is finals week for me so I probably won't post for a couple of weeks. Psychology major ftw!**

**IMPORTANT QUESTION: I'm debating if I want to put a lemon in this fic. Would you A) want one? B)for those who are uncomfortable with the whole lemon thing, would you want and intext note stating lemon starts/ends here?**

**Read & Review!**

**Lovely**


	8. Sends Me To Heaven

**AN:**** Hi…. Okay before you attack please hear me out! I was busy. I know, the lamest excuse ever, with finals, work, shopping, catching up with old friends, like 3 different Christmases, family death, New Years, and my anniversary. Who knew that I'd be far busier during my break than when I had classes? I'm so sorry, I'm embarrassed and you all have the right to throw me off the nearest bridge. **

**I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!**

**About the chapter****: Kind of a filler, but lots of Sora/Ari interaction. Ooh and there's some new characters!**

**Word Count:**** 2203 without A/N's and lyrics**

**Song:**** Your Guardian Angel by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus**

**Reviewer Responses at the end since there are a lot and I don't want to take too much space up before the chapter.**

**Thank you all so much for the overwhelming response to this story. I'm so glad you're enjoying it and thank you for all the reviews, follows, and favorites!**

**Enjoy!**

_I will never let you fall_

_I'll stand up for with you forever_

_I'll be there for you through it all_

_Even if saving you sends me to heaven_

""

Somewhere, in a faraway world, a young woman with golden eyes and ebony hair smirked.

"Who would've thought that his own darling_ light_ would be the one to thrust him into the darkness?" She cackled eliciting a small smile from the tall man standing beside her, both of them staring into a large monitor labeled "Dreams".

"Well that makes our job so much easier. We should've thought of implanting that idea into his mind ourselves, saving us years of failure!"

"Well at least he took care of that nut, Xehanort, while he was gallivanting around the realms despite our efforts." She jeered, admiring the blood red finish from her manicure. "And besides, Caleb, we tried implanting that, it didn't work, remember?"

"But that's the beauty of it, dear Opulentia. We never toyed with the notion of Kairi loving Riku, his best friend! We only implanted the idea that she had moved on with new men. God if only we knew how this would destroy him-"

"Yes, yes we went over that." Opulentia cut him off quickly noticing something on the screen. "But did you just see that?" she asked in utter shock pointing at the monitor with her pale hand.

Caleb shifted his emerald eyes to the screen and scratched his head in confusion.

"Oh you dolt," Opulentia wacked him "I think he just left her!"

"Come on, there's no way he'd let her die even if it was just a dream." He retorted incredulously "Play it back."

Frantically Opulentia rewound the transmission until Caleb stopped her.

"There, stop and unmute it." She did, and let her eyes become glued to the screen.

The monitor showed Sora confronting dream-Kairi.

"_How could you? You slept with my best friend, my brother. You told me you loved me, I could understand if you moved on, but this is Riku!"_

"Wow he's really letting her have it." Caleb whispered, unable to look away from the screen but Opulentia shushed him wanting to see every detail as the fight progressed.

As Sora turned around and walked away Caleb gasped.

"He did it. He let her die." He was beside himself and Opulentia was just as shocked.

"He claimed he still loved her." The raven haired woman shot her partner a worried glance trying not to get her hopes up but Caleb shook his head.

"But his anger still out won his love, the darkness is manifesting his heart at an incredible rate." He stated pleased with the findings not even able keep the smile off his face, but Opulentia was still hesitant.

"But that _was_ only a dream." She concluded still not believing that they could produce such results with barely any effort. Caleb, however, knew the truth.

With a sickening, evil smile he turned around and spoke with excitement and certainty.

"_This _is only the beginning."

""

Sora had successfully avoided seeing Kairi while getting to hang out with Ari for the rest of the week. Every day he would hang out with Ari while his mother, Nanny Dairu, watched her. They would walk through the park, swim at the pool, play at the beach and Sora truly relished every second he got to spend with Ari. Just thinking about the girl made a genuine smile appear on his face. She was brilliant for her age and insanely philosophical, at times he forgot that she was only three, yesterday at the park was proof of that.

_Elise was looking at butterfly stained glass at a nearby kiosk . Ari however, became bored with her nanny's shopping so Sora decided to take her over to the playground. _

_While walking on the sidewalk, Ari dropped her head and grimaced at the ground. _

"_Sora," She asked in bewilderment. "Why can't I fly?"_

"_Uh... what?" he raised his eyebrows in astonishment._

"_Birds can fly, Bees can fly, but I can't… Why?" she pondered still watching as her feet hit the ground with each step._

"_Ari, people are too heavy to fly." He reasoned with her._

"_No, that no it… I just have to try harder." _

"_Ari trust me, there is no way you're going to fly here." He chastised her._

"_Here? Sora have you flied before?" She lifted her head to look at him, eyes wide in excitement._

"_Yeah actually I have… it was in another world though" he admitted sheepishly._

"_Please take me there!" She pleaded._

"_One day, I promise." She sighed and stuck her tongue out at him._

"_You better!" _

""

"Sora…" Elise harshly whispered to her son, breaking him out of his daydream, once Ari was too focused on the lions in the exhibit. He looked at his mom with a questioning, weary glance, half knowing where this conversation was going.

"Is… everything alright?" she tipped-toed around the subject after hearing Kairi's side of the story earlier that morning.

"Yup," he put on a façade "I'm having a great time, I love the zoo!" Today really was the perfect day to go, it was cold for the islands and since most people had work and the children had school, there were only a few handful there.

Elise sighed. "That's not what I meant. Is everything- Are you- Did something happen with Kairi?" she fumbled with the wording, but spoke with genuine concern.

Sora had to catch himself from grimacing but his mother noticed his glazed expression.

"Time changes people." He muttered absent mindedly earning a look from his mother.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she nearly shrieked incredulously.

"You and Kairi have been inseparable from the time you were three up until you left 4 years ago! Now you listen here, I may be your mother and I will _always_ put you first, but I love Kairi like my own daughter and when she breaks down in tears in front of me claiming you stormed out of the apartment with this '_murderous look in your eyes',_ I'm sure as hell going to meddle and figure out what's going on." The look on her face told him she was dead serious.

Sora couldn't help but feel as if he was a teenager again, being reprimanded for staying put past curfew and had to stifle a gulp.

"Now spill." She demanded, still keeping a close eye on Ari who was holding a one sided conversation with the captive animals.

Sora shook his head and bit his lower lip.

"I know Kairi was having a hard time with the pregnancy after I left, and I know she needed someone to comfort her and take care after I destroyed her, I'm not some heartless bastard." He growled trying not to sound like a jealous brat.

"God, I even accepted and could live with the fact that she could move on and be happy in my absence, but I can't forgive them or even begin to accept what they did to me…"

"Sora, what are you even talking about?" Elise was about to snap from all this circling he was doing.

"I-I think Riku and Kairi are sleeping together, and have been for a while." He hung his head while his mom gasped.

"I know they lived together, but that's impossible-she'd never- **she loves you**." She pleaded griping her shoulders.

"I'm almost certain that even if it happened in the past, it's still happening to this day. I could accept a lot of things, just not this."

"Sora," she sighed in attempt to comfort him "I honestly… Ari?" she frantically looked around for the missing child, whipping her head back and forth in panic.

Sora felt like his stomach was full of ice and that his body was on pins and needles. If anything happened to Ari, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

"ARI!" Elise screamed in pure horror at the little girl climbing down the rocks into the lions' cage.

"Hi Nanny Dairu!" Ari smiled and waved at the old woman from below but lost her footing on the rock and slipped with a high pitched scream.

Hearing his daughter's wail was enough to break Sora out of his catatonic state. In the blink of an eye he summoned Oathkeeper and jumped down into the lions' pit.

Ari was on the ground cradling her scraped knee with tears streaming down her face. Despite her best effort to be strong, she couldn't help her quivering lip. When Sora landed he rushed over to the girl and scooped her up in his arms.

"Hey, hey it's okay, I've got you Ari." His voice soothed her while he patting her back.

Luckily the lions paid them no attention, not even sparing them a glance, regardless Ari was still visibly upset.

"Come on let's get out of here before they notice us, okay?" Ari nodded, burying her head in his shoulder holding onto him as tight as she possibly could.

"_Sora_" she whispered as if it a comfort to her, not just his name.

"Defense!" he cried out causing tendrils of wind to encompass the two of them.

Ari's head lifted as wonder spread over the contours of her face, ruby hair whipping around wildly.

As soon as Sora climbed over the railing with Ari in one hand, the wind stopped instantly allowing him to place her on the ground and let a frantic Elise to rush over to the child.

"Ari! Are you okay? Never do that again, you hear me? I was so scared, wait until your mother hears about this. You could've died. Oh sweetheart, thank God you're okay!" She fussed and chastised like any mother who found their lost child.

Ari seemed virtually unscathed by the entire event and didn't even notice her Nanny Dairu hugging her. She was too busy staring at the keyblade that Sora still had in hand with wide, curious eyes. She reached out and touched it and turned her gaze towards Sora.

"What is this?" she whispered knocking on the blade.

"Be careful that's sharp- But this is what I use to protect people." Sora tried to generalize.

"I want one."

"One day when you're older, it may come to you when you need it most. A keyblade cannot be bought or be stolen." He explained trying not to get the girl's hopes up. "Here take it." He offered her the hilt of the keyblade which took anxiously despite her lack of ability to hold it off the ground.

Sora moved away from Ari and then materialized Oathkeeper in his hand watching Ari shriek in delight patting the ground with her hands to make sure this wasn't just some trick.

"That real magic!" She cheered and Sora smiled for the second time that day. He found that he could only smile a real, genuine smile when Ari caused it, the rest of the day he would suffer in self-pity and anguish.

He moved over to examine her knee, which had stopped bleeding but a nasty bruise was forming beneath the scab.

"You wanna see something cool?" he asked excitedly, pleased by her eager nods and giggling.

"_Heal_" Sora encanted and Ari watched as a soft green light emitted from the keyblade while a sense of calm washed over her. Once it all faded, Ari opened her eyes and blinked at Sora in confusion.

"Look" He gestured to her knee and Ari gasped, it was all better!

"No more booboo!" she gaped and then wrapped her arms around Sora's neck "You my hero." Sora put away the weapon so he could hug her back and over Ari's little shoulder he couldn't help but notice his mother's disapproving glare.

""

"You should have never told her about that, Sora, at least not without Kairi's approval. That was a huge thing you just threw at Hikari and you don't think she's going to mention it to Kairi, or anyone for that matter?"

Elise ran her hands over face waiting for Ari to finish up in the bathroom on the way out of the zoo, not exactly happy with the burden this day turned out to be. First having to yell at her son for hurting Kairi, then have Ari fall into the lion's exhibit, and then to top it all off, her son revealed to her granddaughter a life full of fighting and magic.

"Mom, I panicked when she fell into the pit. I-I had to save her, I couldn't exactly avoid her questions after I picked her up in a wind tunnel!" he stated in a mild panic agreeing that he shouldn't have exposed this to her so soon.

"Yeah but did you have to show her all the other stuff!" She waved her hand around frantically.

"Once everything was out there, I couldn't help myself." She smiled sheepishly.

"Sora, one thing's for sure. You need to talk to Kairi about _everything_."

"I know." He grumbled hanging his head in defeat as Ari bounded out of the restroom.

"Come on, let's get home before you try to climb into the aquarium, Monkey." Sora teased and Elise giggled.

"Hey! Who you calling monkey?" Ari whined while trying to jump on Sora.

Sora let Ari climb on his back for the walk home but knew that he had a long night ahead of him.

**A/N: So…? Hope you enjoyed the fluffy cuteness and are excited about Opulentia and Caleb! I swear it won't take me nearly as long to update next time. IMPORTANT! There WILL be a lemon and it will be in either the next chapter or the one after it! Also I might write a one shot, does anyone have a suggestion? (any rating welcome) the more unique the better!**

**ATTENTION ALL ARTISTS: I would love to see some depictions of what you all think Hikari looks like. Soooo yeah if you want to draw a picture and send me the link I'll post it in my profile.**

**Reader Questions: How did you get into Kingdom hearts? (Answer in reviews please :) )**

**My best friends growing up lived across the street from me and they had the game and I loved it. When I moved away that summer ,my parents bought me my own ps2 and copy of the game but sadly I only got to the tarzan level haha. Years later (6 years precisely) I picked up the game again and loved it all over again playing every game in the series! Unfortunately I don't remember my old friends' last names and lost contact with them instantly after the move but whenever I play the series it reminds me of them **

**Reviewer Responses: **

**StarChasers: Thank you so much! I hope you're still enjoying this!**

**Khhero: I'm glad I shocked you haha but everyone was so quick to believe Sora's assumptions. Thank you for the luck on finals, they went wonderfully.**

**Lenchkumaximus: Riku is being quite the arrogant ass right now, but he's just trying to protect Kairi in his own greedy "I've always love you and now that he's gone I can have you" way. But don't believe Sora's assumptions too soon! You never know what kind of curve ball I could throw. Sora, as you can tell from the first part of this chapter, will be going down a darth path here pretty soon. But don't worry happiness will be right around the corner for him : ) and yes, fuck Rikai indeed.**

**Sora93Kairi: Sorry didn't mean to make you sick :/ But don't believe Sora's assumptions too soon! Just wait until you see what Kairi has to say. No reason to fear, this is in the Sora/Kairi section for a reason : ) Also I don't live in Southern Ohio BUT I do live/go to school in North Eastern Ohio!**

**Alaska: Thank you so much! I'm so happy you're enjoying this, and I hope you enjoyed the update!**

**Guest: There will be a lemon and I'm so glad you like the story, thank you!**

**Kitsune: I love the feels! haha and thank you for noticing/appreciating the song selection. I was starting to wonder if people even noticed them haha**

**Sapphire Intensity: Evil Sora is fun to write, I really enjoy it and I'm glad you like my portrayal of it! Thank you for the story love! It is much appreciated and I love when stories break the typical molds. I actually wrote this story because I hadn't seen anything too out of the ordinary that held my attention. As for the lemon, I am doing it! The only reason I wouldn't was if I had an overwhelming response of people who objected, but not even one did! I hope you enjoyed the slight filler of a chapter!**

**Twokeyz: Thank you! I like to think that this story is unique : ) I made the darkness transformation gradual because there's nothing I hate more than a "Surprise, I'm evil!" moment in any fic from any fandom. Xehanort IS dead which I hope you realized from Opulentia and Caleb's scene. I am doing a lemon but I'll probably put a certain marking indicating the beginning and end of the lemon which explain in the lemon filled chapter. So glad you're enjoying this and hope that you enjoyed the update! Thank you so much again!**

**S2mixer: I'm so glad you're enjoying this and thank you so much for the kind praise! I hope you enjoy the update and continue to read in the future!**

**SolarRuby17 (for chapters 1,2,&3): 1: Thank you so much! I like to think (and hope the games might do this too… hopefully…) that as the character's grow older the light and dark become harder to define. Aw! I always get all gushy when people tell me I help them with stuff :) 2: I'm a sap too, borderline cheesy, and I'm glad you liked this chapter so much! Yeah, the characters are a tad OOC in this fic but that's because it's in the future (haha I have a cover up :) ) 3:Ari is extremely cute, she's my pride and joy haha. I have no idea if I'm actually going to bring Uncle Zach into the fic, he was kind of just used for suspense, but there are opportunities to do so. About the revealing of Sora being Ari's Daddy, I have played with about 7 different scenarios planned but have no idea which one to choose! Thank you, again, soooooo much for your fabulous reviews!**

**Angelalex242: I completely agree that seeing the King would be the best decision, but Sora's stubborn and doesn't actually believe this is happening. As for everyone else, they really haven't thought too much about his darkness since he hasn't really shown it to anyone except Riku. Maybe he'll pull through and get the King. Thanks and I hope you enjoyed the update!**

**Emperor Xirchs: Thank you so much! The whole Riku/Kairi thing is close to being over.**

**Kirie: Happy New Year to you too! I have been extremely busy! I'm so glad that you found my fic again and that you're enjoying it so much! Yeah, the Rikai sex thing isn't cool but I'm glad it wasn't too predictable! Also, don't believe Sora's assumption just yet, you never know what Kairi has to say! The dream afterward had to be my favorite part of that entire chapter, I had it written way before I wrote the Ari scene! Thank you so much for the kind praise and I'm so glad you're enjoying this so much! As for the lemon there WILL be one! Thanks again!**

**Raix XVI: I know, I had a tad of a long break between post, again, but here's a new update! :) Oooh those are all good ideas haha but you'll just have to wait and see! Thank you soo much for the review and I hope you enjoyed the update! **

**Until Next Time!**

**Lovely **


	9. You're In My Veins

**A/N: Here were are! Sorry about the wait, again… yeah sorry. This chapter is about 60% lemon soooo you've been warned. This chapter answer's a lot of questions and leads into the next (and possibly final) arch of this story! Thank you so much for the reviews/follows/favorites! **

**Reviewer Responses at the bottom.**

**Song: In My Veins- Andrew Belle (God, I love this song)**

**Word Count without A/N: 4,117 (longest one I think?)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, at all**

**Enjoy!**

_All that you rely on  
And all that you can fake  
Will leave you in the morning  
But find you in the day  
Oh, you're in my veins  
And I cannot get you out_

On the Walk home, Hikari slept in Sora's arms, tuckered out from the day's exciting events, which allowed Sora ample time to think in peace. Elise walked close by but her mother's intuition told her that her son didn't feel like talking which she could allow. He was, after all, going to Kairi's apartment, and that's all she could ask for.

Sora may have had a tranquil demeanor plastered on his face but a whirl wind of emotions plagued his inner self, equal parts fury, confusion, nervousness, and sorrow. He wanted to see Kairi, then he never wanted to speak to her again, he missed her, but he also wanted scream at her until she broke down and he was red in the face.

In short, he didn't know how this whole confrontation was going to play out.

His stomach flip flopped as he remembered the incident with Riku a few days back. What if he hurt her, unintentionally?

He gulped in fear. No matter what she did, he would never be able to forgive himself if he laid a hand on her.

"Come on Ari." He heard his mother whisper to the sleeping child as they approached the apartment. Time flies when you're deep in thought.

"We home already?" Hikari yawned as they entered the home but Sora was too focused on calming himself to respond.

Lucky for him, Elise took Ari out of his arms and brushed passed him.

"Kairi," she called out. "Were back, I'm just going to grab Ari's bag and then we'll leave!" Sora quirked his eyebrow in confusion, why was Ari staying at his mother's house?

"Alright, Elise! Let me just say goodbye!" Kairi shouted emerging from the bedroom in a short, seductive, black dress, red patent leather pumps, and her hair rolled in big thick curls.

"I love you Ari, have fun at Nanny Dairu's tonight." She mused kissing her daughter all over her head.

"Love you too mamma, you look pretty like a princess!" The child giggled and Elise nodded in agreement.

"You look stunning sweetheart." Kairi smiled in appreciation. "Well we better get going before someone gets too cranky." Both women laughed as Elise turned to leave.

"Bye Mamma!" Ari waved as Sora remained unnoticed in the corner waiting until they were alone to reveal himself.

"Big night?" He grumbled with a glare that caused Kairi to nearly jump out of her skin.

"Sora? Shit, what the hell are you doing here?" She gasped with wide eyes.

"We need to talk." His voice was smooth and calm but there was a hidden vigor that sent chills up her spine.

"You know what? You can't just storm out of here without a single word and ignore me for a _week_ then have the nerve to tell me what to do in _my_ house! I'm not _that_ girl, I've never _been_ that girl." She hissed, irritated by his new moody side.

"You know what, _fine."_ He spat. "If you don't want to do this, I'm done. You're such a fucking brat you know that? I can't believe I ever felt bad about leaving you behind. God…" he shook his head in frustration not even noticing Kairi's slack jawed expression as he made way towards the door. _The final escape _he thought bitterly. "I'll still be over to see Ari but besides that, stay away from me!"

"Wait!" she called after him, grabbing his fore arm, desperately pulling him towards her causing him to stop instantly.

"Sora, what the hell has gotten into recently?" Kairi begged in bewilderment as he stood facing away from her, huffing in anger.

"What's gotten into me, Kairi? You're the one who's lying to me!" He growled pleased with the shocked whimper that passed through her lips. _I hope that cut deep…_

"Sora what the fuck are you talking about!" she screamed out in desperation.

"I know," he grunted, fist clenching and heart breaking all over again with every word "I know about you and Riku."

"Sora…" she gasped in disbelief as his implication registered. "You don't think-"

"My best friend Kairi? You've been fucking my best friend?!" he yelled, heart burning in anguish as he finally turned around with broken, osculated eyes that meeting hers. "I could maybe understand anyone _but_ him. How could you do this?" he pleaded, and for a second the anger subsided in his voice as pure devastation and hurt seeped through his cracked façade.

She gapped at him with watery eyes almost too shocked for words.

"I don't know who told you this," her voice filled with disbelief "But I have never, and will never sleep with Riku! How could you even believe such a lie!" she sobbed "How could you even think-"

"Ari told me. She told me about how you two would sleep here in _our_ room, share _our_ bed, keeping _our_ daughter from sleeping in the fucking next room!" his voice rose to a frightening level but what really scared Kairi was the fact that Sora's eyes were now completely clouded over.

"I never did anything with Riku! I needed him and he was _there_! He helped me! He would _never_ leave me unlike someone I know." She trailed off, venom dripping from her lips and completely enraged that he could think so little of her, that he couldn't trust _her _after all he put her through.

"Oh come on Kai that's a low blow and you know it, even for a slut like you!" He snapped as she was visibly taken back, caught off guard but only for a few mere seconds until fury consumed her. Body working faster than mind, brought her face to face with him before she could even fully process his comment.

"Say it again, _I dare you_." She growled.

He laughed and leaned in so his lips were only a few inches away from hers. His dark eyes met hers and if looks could kill, she'd be six feet under.

"Oh come on Kairi, there's no point in lying about it," he whispered in a low, calming voice. "Just tell me, did you keep my ring on your finger while he was fucking you? I bet that really gets you off, knowing that you could have us both, you who—" Kairi not just smacked, but whacked him across the face. She was devastated by his comments. How could he think so low of her? She couldn't help but let her tears fall.

Sora let out a loud almost broken laugh as he held his cheek and stumbled backwards. Feeling his throat tighten and vision blur behind the tears he let his true demeanor show. He was an image of a broken man. "Just like a bitch" he spat letting a few of his own tears fall.

Kairi had never been so enraged in her entire life, not even when Sora abandoned her while she was pregnant. This was not the Sora she knew, her heart was shattering all over again as a whirlpool of emotions washed over her.

She let out a desperate scream and tackled him onto her bed.

"WHO ARE YOU?" she cried out pinning his wrists to the bed with brute strength.

"What do you mean?" he barked trying to fight her off but couldn't.

"You are not the person I fell in love with." She growled holding his gaze.

"Well, people change when the two most important people in their life betray them!"

"Goddammit Sora! Why are you doing this to me!? I've NEVER slept with Riku! _You hear me_?"

To an outsider, their position would look quite intimate with her lying on top, his leg between her thighs, and their parted, panting lips so close to one another. But their emotions were running too high to even notice.

"What the fuck am I doing to YOU? I never slept with anyone else but you EVER! I know Riku still stays here! I'd have to be pretty damn stupid not to see what was going on!"

"I can't believe that you would not only think that I would do that, but that Riku would do that to you too!" Sora rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"Seriously? Riku wants my fucking head on a silver platter! My best friend hates me now and I'm sure sleeping with you was a great ploy for revenge…"

Suddenly the anger subsided and the realization hit Kairi like hard a punch to the gut.

"You're not going to believe me even though I'm telling the truth." She whispered loosening her grip on his wrists, relaxing her entire body.

"It's hard to argue with the evidence against you" Kairi sighed and hung her head in defeat.

"Riku would sleep in here with me." Kairi admitted and Sora grimaced "But it was just to make sure I was okay, I was a wreck _and you know it._" She emphasized.

"He never _touched_ you?" he demanded and she shook her head causing him to let out a woeful chuckle.

"So you're telling me for the past 3 years while Riku has been sleeping right next to you, you haven't been, well, lonely?"

"Well of course I was_ lonely_ but I wouldn't fuck Riku if he was the last person on earth! He's like my brother. I admire him so much and never could just sleep with him!" she pleaded hoping he would cool his icy exterior.

His eyes searched hers desperately for any sign that she was telling the truth.

_**The stupid whore doesn't care about you at all! She just wants to play you both, greedy witch.**_** Don't**_** give in!**_

He shook his head trying to rid the headache all this dissonance was causing him. Ignoring the voice, he focused on Kairi and on her stunning yet puffy indigo eyes that sparkled with anticipation and saw her pleading honesty. Letting his eyes freely travel over he tear stained cheeks and landed on her soft, pink parted lips.

Kairi noticed Sora's demeanor change like day and night. His features softened and his eyes were no longer meeting hers and the dark clouds cleared revealing his dazzling cerulean orbs focused absentmindedly on her lips. Self-consciously, she ran her tongue over her bottom lip and noticed something flash in his eyes. Suddenly she was very aware of the position they were in, more specifically how high she was perched on his thigh. The realization caused a wave of heat to spread over her entire body.

"Sora?" she meant to ask, but his name came out as a desperate plea. His eyes snapped up to meet hers, they were dark, but not with anger.

"Do you swear on Hikari's life you've never slept with Riku?"

"Yes, Sora you're being ridiculous." She whispered lost in his eyes.

She was falling deeper and deeper under his spell, leaning in closer to him until she felt his warm breath upon her lips. An old familiar heat was pooling in her abdomen causing her to shudder.

"Why would I downgrade?" she whispered in his ear.

Gently, she nibbled his ear lobe as he let out a gasp in surprise. "Once you've had a taste of perfection, there's no going back." She ghosted her lips down his neck lingering over his pulse point sucking harder and harder in tune with the soft, throaty moans he let past his lips.

She pulled away and rested her forehead against his, their ragged breaths hitting each other's lips.

"Kairi, what's gotten into you?" he breathed out huskily. Not that he was complaining about her forwardness, it had been far too long for either of them and he wanted her something awful but he was confused to her sudden mood change.

"_Sora_," she moaned out, which almost caused his eyes to roll back into his head. "I haven't been with anyone for three years. I've missed you, _I need you_." She closed the space between them and roughly meshed her lips with his but only for an instant. "Besides," she smirked "I don't think you're complaining" she rolled her hips causing her to rub up against his stiffening erection. He let out a stifled groan and flipped them over so he was on top.

She gasped in a mix of surprise and delight.

"I never said I was." He smiled hovering over her.

He kissed her roughly not even hesitating to shove his tongue deep within her mouth eliciting a muted moan as she ran her hands through his soft hair, gripping it by the roots desperately.

He was drowning in the softness of her lips and each stroke of her tongue against his excited him more and more.

This was what he dreamed about at night, their reunion. Granted in his fantasy, everything was soft and tender in the glow of candle light. But this may be even better than his dreams, raw emotion and primal desire expressing truly how badly they missed each other.

He relished the feeling of her hands sliding down his torso over his pecks and down his abs as she leaned desperately into the kiss.

Kairi was in euphoria, she had missed Sora so much and being with him like this was sinfully good but not enough. He was running his hands along the outsides of her thighs but she wanted so much more. But when she tried to take the kiss farther, he pulled back as if to tease her only allowing her to capture his lips.

Frustrated, she slipped his t-shirt over his head in one fluid motion and raked her nails down his back, causing him to moan.

Taking advantage of his momentary lack of focus, she flipped them over and straddled his waist. Her eyes met his in lustful innocence, letting her finger run just below the waist band of his boxers while sensuously liking her lips. She wanted to feel his skin against her own, consume his entire being, and scream out his name until her voice gave out.

His breath hitched in his throat at her lustful gaze and felt himself harden as she licked up his chest and placed her lips near his ear.

"Touch me." She demanded. Sora loved when Kairi was dominate. Not only was it indescribably sexy, but it made her begging so much more rewarding.

He slowly ran his fingertips against the softness of her inner thigh, under the skirt of her dress, watching as her eyes fluttered shut and petal pink lips parted in arousal. He rubbed his thumb gently over her covered slit making sure to avoid the clit. She bit her lip in frustration but he could feel her becoming moist through her lacy thong.

"Don't tease!" she hissed and he complied pinching the sensitive pearl lightly causing her to let out a small scream in pleasure and claw at his chest.

"I think you have too many clothes on." He murmured resting his hands on her back, grazing the zipper.

She smirked, letting her hand grab at his clothed erection causing his breath to hitch in his throat before letting a ragged moan escape past his lips. Only temporarily distracted by her intoxicating ministrations, he quickly unzipped the dress and watched as the material pooled around her waist.

Kairi felt herself become overwhelmed with heat at the looks Sora was giving her. His yearning gaze focused on her cleavage, showing that he very much approved of her deep purple, lacy bra so she shed the rest of the dress to expose her matching thong.

Sora let his eyes wander over her beautiful, exposed flesh, heart racing in anticipation, before resting his hands on her hips and meeting her eyes again.

She felt her breath quicken when she looked into his eyes. Not only did his gaze tell her every dirty, passionate, loving thing he wanted to do to her, but she could see how badly he wanted to light her body on fire.

Their lips mashed together in heated bliss as she pressed her body flush against him wanting to feel every curve of his body against her, quivering as his hands ran down her back, up her thighs and then forcefully grabbed her ass.

"Sora" she moaned against his lips, thrusting her hips sharply against his causing his primitive desires to kick in and roll them over.

"Damn it Kairi," he panted against the softness of her neck while desperately thrusting against her. "Are you trying to kill me?" he growled, grabbing her clothed breast and planting fervent kisses along her collar bone, egged on by her loud and eager moaning.

She quickly undid the button on his jeans and with shaking hands, dipped beneath the waistband of his boxers and slid them down, fully exposing his god-like body all tight, defined muscle and golden skin.

She ran her hands down his chest and placed rough kisses against his pulse point on his neck. Pleasure coursed through his veins as he rubbed himself through her clothed snatch, relishing how moist she already was for him.

"Kairi, you're so wet." He whispered in her ear, pushing aside her panties and letting one finger thrust into her, smirking as her eyes fluttered shut and her mouth formed a cute 'oh' shape. "You must have really missed me." He added a second finger causing her to gasp and rake her nails down his back.

"Oh god, Sora," she panted, bucking her hips against his torturous fingers. "You have _no_ idea."

Suddenly she pushed on his chest, and he complied in confusion. Kairi jumped out of bed leaving an aroused Sora gawking at her. In the blink of an eye, she unclasped her bra and peeled off her panties, letting them fall to the floor.

Sora felt all of his blood rush to his already rock hard member, Kairi was more beautiful than when he left, if that was even possible. Kairi smirked as she gaged his reaction, eye lids heavy with desire, adam's apple bobbing from heavy breathing and she knew she had him like putty in her hands.

She sauntered over to the bed and eagerly straddled his waist, whimpering as he brushed up against her bare core.

"Wow," she smirked, placing kisses along his chest. "It looks like someone missed me too." She continued her tortuous trial down his chest.

"Kai..." he groaned, fisting his hands in her luscious red locks, only able to focus on the feeling of her soft, bare skin against his body and wherever her lips were kissing him. Slowly, as if to tease him, she worked her way down his abs then back up his thighs. Finally, she licked the full length of him relishing the way he tugged at her hair and cursed under his breath.

"Fuck, Kai!" he yelled as she took his entire cock into her mouth, desperately flicking her tongue against the head of him. Sora felt like he was on cloud nine, his end was so close he could taste it. Kairi continued to work him until she felt him start to twitch in her mouth, then she released him quickly before it was too late smirking up at her lover.

It was at that moment Sora felt like he had _his_ Kairi back again, not the mother of his child, school teacher, and severely damaged ex fiancé but the sweet girl full of dreams and hope in life.

Sora quickly pulled her to him, crushing his lips to hers with such love and such need that it left her breathless.

"Kairi," He hovered above her staring at her with the most honest gaze. "I love you so much."

She held his gaze and tears pricked her eyes since she could feel the weight of his words on her heart.

"I-I love you too." She couldn't help but let a tear roll down her face but he simply smiled, wiped her tears away, and kissed her fore head, then her eye lids and then her lips. His war ridden, calloused hand fondled her breast while the other caressed her face.

Sora placed himself right at her entrance running himself through her slick folds earning him one last moan before he sheathed himself completely inside her. The feeling of her soft walls clamping down on him put him in a euphoric state of bliss.

Kairi whimpered at the feeling of him inside of her. She felt so full and complete for the first time in years and all she wanted was for him to move. Gently, she thrust her hips against him shivering at the pleasure it was invoking in her.

Sora groaned as she moved against him sinking deeper and deeper inside her. In response, he started thrusting into her already feeling immense pleasure building up in him.

Kairi was panting as he thrust into her, begging for him to go harder and faster to which he eagerly complied. Kairi felt her edge coming and suddenly it all became too much, his panting in her ear, his hands squeezing her ass, his mouth on her neck. She was so close, it was right there.

"Sora I-I'm" she gasped and he reached between them to rub his thumb over her swollen clit. "Sora!" she screamed, tumbling over the edge. Her walls tightened down on him tightly as she arched her back against him, quivering in pleasure.

"Shit" he gasped, her orgasm almost too much for him to handle, bringing him closer to his limit. His thrusts were becoming erratic losing himself to the sweet warmth of her.

"_Oh, Kai_." He whispered in mantra over and over again until he came deep inside her, kissing her with every ounce of his being left.

He rolled over so she could lie on top of him, still deep inside her, holding her against him and kissing her forehead as they tried to catch their breath.

"_Wow_" She gasped out in amazement, "that was..."

"Mind blowing?" Sora smirked.

"Incredible." She giggled, kissing his nose. "It's funny, it took you 15 minutes to undo 2 hours of preparation." She motioned to her hair and the strewn clothes across the room.

"Yeah what was that all about anyways?"

"Girls night with Selphie, and some of my single friends."

"Oh?" he quirked his eyebrow.

"Don't worry, I think I ended up with a real winner." She joked kissing him softly against his lips meaning for it to be quick and innocent but Sora had other intentions.

He deepened the kiss, running his tongue along her bottom lip begging for entrance. After a few breathless moments, he pulled away and rested his fore head against hers and gave her _that_ look of pure sincerity and devotion again.

"I love you, Kairi Lockhart." He stared deeply into her beautiful indigo eyes.

"I love you too, Sora Kyoukou." She smiled, eyes twinkling in delight and suddenly all that mattered was her, and her happiness. He couldn't help himself.

"Marry me." He smiled.

"What?" her eyes widened in shock, but his eyes were dead serious.

"Let's get married, like we were supposed to." He beamed. "I've never changed my mind. I still want to go to bed and wake up to you every morning. Let's take on the world together" he placed a chaste kiss on her forehead.

"Oh Sora." She whispered eye's glazing over in an unreadable expression.

"Well?" his smile faltered as doubt crept in.

"Yes, yes!" she cried desperately hugging him.

"You don't happen to still have the original ring, do you." He asked bashfully. Kairi nodded, tears still streaming down her face as she reached around to the bedside table drawer and pulled out the sparkling ring and handed it to him.

"May I?" He asked reaching for her hand. She nodded smiling as he slid the platinum, diamond ring with two small sapphires onto her finger.

"You're not going to leave me this time?" She only half joked but her eyes were filled with worry.

"Kai, I promise there is nothing that can keep me away from you or Hikari." She nodded pulling him into a tight embrace showing that she trusted him.

"This is real." She whispered.

"How long do we have until Ari comes back?" Sora asked, letting his hands run absentmindedly over her naked curves.

"Your mom's bringing her back tomorrow around one."

"Well," Sora smiled, placing a soft kiss on her lips. "We better get started on the rest of our family." He kissed along her collar bone.

Kairi laughed and pulled him back up to her face. "You know, practice makes perfect." She giggled in joy, both of them truly smiling for the first time in years.

_**This isn't over…**_

The voice warned.

_**See you soon, Keybearer.**_

_A/N: Alright who's ready for the final stretch (possibly)? I'm not feeling as awkward as I should about posting a lemon. It hasn't really set in yet haha. I really hope you liked it and thought it was worth the wait and before anyone asks, Kairi really didn't sleep with Riku, no plot twist, promise :) _

_Reviewer Responses:_

_Khhero: Glad you enjoyed it, and hope you enjoyed this chapter! I had a wonderful holiday thank you for asking._

_Sora93kairi: hope you're not too scared :( haha but yeah you're telling me!_

_StormChanger: they not only can rewind/ manipulate his dreams, but I don't want to get ahead of the story and give out too many spoilers haha! I'm glad you enjoy my OC's so much! I find Elise very easy to right, she just flows out of me without too much effort. Oh my god she really is like Lynn! Wow didn't think of that but it's kind of blatantly obvious haha!_

_Sapphire Intensity: I am so glad you love this so much! I love Caleb and Opulentia! They are probably my favorite OC's (they're banter is so fun to write!) Your questions about their relationship to Xehanort and their intentions will fully be revealed in the next chapter, promise! I might makes some onesided RiKai implications (or more implications) in future chapters but the whole love triangle, riku/kairi sleeping together is finally put to rest. Hope you enjoyed it!_

_Angelalex242: There will be a lot more Riku involvement in the next few chapters and hopefully he can bring Sora to his senses right?_

_Geust: Thank you! Ari will find out about her father, I promise!_

_DeathByPoeticWords: Here's the new chapter! Sorry about the long wait… Thank you so much! I'm so sorry about your ex, I hope this chapter helps, in way. Hope you enjoyed!_

_StarChasers: Here's the lemon! Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry about the long wait and thank you so much!_


	10. Natures Fury Always Proves Much Stronger

**A/N:**** Um… hi? Sorry about this super late update. I could list off a bunch of lame excuses of why I haven't updated (one of which is my favorite band, MCR, breaking up :( ) but no one really cares about that, do they? But I will brag about the fact that I did go to New York City for spring break which was insanely awesome because of what's listed next….**

_**SUPER COOL THING:**_** While I was riding a subway on spring break, I just happened to glace a girl's phone and noticed she was reading fan fiction, then I noticed she was reading Sokai fan fiction, and here's the really cool part: She. Was. Reading. My. Story! I was honestly so touched and wanted to hug her so badly. This experience really got me to start writing again so thank you mysterious subway reader for the boost!**

**AMAZING READ: So I read this amazing one shot by (Author of the awesome fic: Finding Hikari) called Eye of the Storm. It's a very long one shot but is so worth it. Her writing and timing is flawless. (not to mention there's a juicy lemon!) so check it out!**

**About the Chapter:**** For it being short and written in only two days, I really like the way it turned out, but it's so not worth the wait…. Sorry :(**

**Song of the chapter:**Start Today Tomorrow** by **_Youth Group_

**Thank you so much to all my reviewers, favorites, and Follows!**

**IMPORTANT: I created a twitter account to post future story ideas, progress of chapters, etc. So follow me lovelyluck49 !**

_I've been so damn sure that I've been here before.__  
__I'll rise above my sorrow__  
__And start today tomorrow_

Kairi couldn't help but giggle like a giddy school girl when she woke up the next morning to her fiancé's adorable snoring. She couldn't believe the turn of events last night created, it was almost unreal. If it wasn't for the ring on her finger, she would've thought it was all just a beautiful dream. Kairi was beyond excited for their lives, their future, and what all this would mean for Ari but she couldn't fight the nagging feeling that Riku was right and Sora would leave again, or worse.

Cautiously, as if not to wake him, she rolled over to face him and brush his hair out of his peaceful face. He looked like a giant baby, all swaddled up in the blankets and mouth parted letting contented coos pass through. Kairi couldn't help herself and planted an innocent kiss right on his lips.

Instantly, Sora pulled Kairi to him and let out a deep yet groggy chuckle causing her to squeal in surprise.

"Good morning" He breathed out , voice thick with sleep.

"I thought you were sleeping." She smirked.

"I was until _someone_ tried to suffocate me." He jokingly accused.

Kairi gaped in mock anger "Fine, I'll never kiss you in bed ever again." She attempted to roll away from him but he quickly stopped her.

"Aw, come on can't you take a joke." He leaned in as if to kiss her but she turned her head in mock refusal.

"Nope! That wasn't funny!" She lamely tried to fight him off until he started placing loving kisses into the crook of her neck, causing her to gasp.

"I love you" he muttered against her lips before claiming them. The kiss was soft and beautiful, full of emotion and meaning that when he finally pulled away Kairi had a hard time seeing straight.

"I love you too" she whispered breathlessly. He smiled down at her before climbing out of bed and pulling on a pair of boxers.

"I'm going to make us breakfast in bed and then we can shower before Ari comes back." He winked.

"Does that mean I can't put on clothes?"

"Uh-huh. That means you can't leave this bed until I return." Her laugher rang through his ear as he walked through the hall to the kitchen and he couldn't but feel like he was home.

""

Sora was standing in what appeared to be a batter war zone as he attempted to make perfect heart shaped pancake while trying not to burn his exposed flesh. Just as he poured what looked like a heart into the skillet there was a loud pounding at the door.

Confused, Sora threw on a shirt and went to the door apprehensively. Surely it wasn't his mother already? Besides she couldn't knock that hard if she flung her body at the door at full speed. Whoever was knocking was strong, probably strong enough to break down the door if needed. A life of fighting and making enemies caused Sora to summon his keyblade as a precaution as he answered the door.

The door swung open to reveal his best friend, or whatever they were now, standing there with his gaze at the ground with his hands deep in his jean pockets.

"Your mom said you would probably be here." Riku mumbled barley making eye contact when he spoke.

"What's up?" Sora answered in confusion at the turn of events. He wasn't used to seeing Riku so passive and not trying to kick his ass so he was still on guard with oath keeper hidden behind the door.

Riku shifted on his feet truly looking Sora in the eyes for the first time eyes full of sorrow and hurt.

"I'm sorry." He spoke softly yet his words spoke volumes.

"What?" Sora asked dumbfounded and instantly disarmed Oathkeeper, Riku's words hitting him in the gut.

The taller man sighed running his hands through his long, silver locks, pondering his thoughts.

"Can we talk, in private?" he pleaded glancing around Sora to make sure Kairi wasn't listening.

"Yeah… of course." The brunette sighed with genuine concern and uneasiness. "Let me just tell Kairi that I'm leaving." Riku nodded allowing his boxer clad friend to shut the door momentarily.

"What the hell?" Sora whispered to himself, rushing back to their bedroom at lightning speed pulling his hair by the roots desperately trying figure out what Riku was planning.

"Back so soon?" Kairi giggled, all seductively sprawled across the bed.

"Riku's at the door." Sora blurted out not even fazed by her attempt to seduce him.

"What?" Her voice dropped in shock as she attempted to cover herself with the comforter.

Sora sat on the bed, with his face in his hands.

"I-I don't get it. He's apologizing to me. _Me._ And n-now he wants to 'talk to me in private'? I-I don't get it!" Kairi wrapped her arms around his shoulders and placed a kiss on his head.

"Just go talk to him, it's Riku, not Xehanort." Sora sighed pulling on his discarded jeans from last night.

"Fine, but I still owe you breakfast." He placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

""

To say the 'talk' was awkward would be a gross understatement. Riku and Sora had been walking along the beach for at least 20 minutes and neither one of them had said anything none-the-less made eye contact.

Sora, the notoriously impatient one, was the first to crack.

"This is ridiculous…Riku, what are you sorry for? I'm the one who should be sorry." Both men stopped in their tracks.

"That's just it." Riku sighed. "When I disappeared for a year without any word, you forgave me before I even had the chance to apologize and when you did the same, I tried to beat you up." He smirked at the irony.

"Riku…" Sora gasped in shock. "Those were two different situations, you were trying to protect us you were-"

"You were trying to do the same thing, Sora! You just had some crappy timing." He confessed "I'm not saying what you did was right, but you were right about one thing. If anyone would've understood, it would've been me. Granted I probably would've understood better if you came to me before you left and explained everything, but I should've been more understanding regardless. "

"I'm sorry I-I just thought you would've convinced me to stay, or that you'd tell Kairi." Sora pleaded his case.

"I understand but it hurt- it _hurts _me that you don't trust me after all we've been through."

"Riku," Sora placed a hand on his long time friend's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye with determination. "I trust you with my entire life, Kairi's life, even Hikari's life."

"Well then will you trust me when I say that you need help?" he whispered, treading on thin ice.

Sora retracted his hand and backed away from Riku.

"W-w-what?" fear was apparent and etched across his face.

"The other night, that feeling? I've been there."

"I've got it under control Riku." He pleaded.

"There's no controlling it, Sora! It takes over as it pleases and there's no stopping it by yourself, trust me." Riku tried to keep the situation from escalating into something violent, keeping his voice calm.

Sora just shook his head in disbelief so Riku tried to reason with him.

"What if next time it isn't me you throw against a wall, what if it's Kairi or Ari?" Sora's head snapped up in shock.

"That would never happen, how dare you?" the brunette growled.

"I've already called Mickey…"

"What?!" Sora yelped incredulously eye's starting to darken with rage. "You're being ridiculous, this whole thing is utter _bullshit_! You know what I think? I think you're jealous, jealous that Kairi chose me and now you want me to leave _again_ so you can try to fill my shoes. But here's the thing, _Riku_…" Sora's growled holding the larger man up by the front of his shirt, eyes completely black and darkness swirling against his skin. "She doesn't want you so back-the fuck- off…"

"Sora." Riku grunted. "Look, look at what you're doing."

Sora looked at his hands, seeing black wisps radiate from them, and instantly released his friend and fell back into the sand, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You didn't even realize what was happening…"

Sora's entire body stated trembling _This is out of my control._ _What if next time it was K-Kairi or even Hikari… Oh god, oh god no… I can't… _he thought, letting his emotions get the best of him.

"When is Mickey getting here?" Sora sobbed causing Riku let out a breath of relief.

"Tomorrow evening." He patted Sora's shoulder and offered him a hand which Sora graciously accepted, whipping the stray tears with the back of his hand as he composed himself.

The two started walking back towards the main road in a peaceful silence before Sora stopped again.

"Listen, what I said before, about Kairi? I-" Riku waved him off before he could apologize.

"Like I said before, I've been there, and I forgive you, for everything." Riku smiled.

Sora couldn't help it, he flung himself against Riku tackling him in a manly hug.

"Thank you, Riku. You're truly my best friend in all the worlds."

"Sora, Aren't we getting a little too old for this?" He sighed, rolling his eyes but hugging him back with equal force.

"Psh, Riku you're never too old for a bro hug." Sora scoffed causing the two to burst out in laughter just like old times.

"Hey," The smaller man called out with excitement. "You want to go to the bar and catch up? I mean, god, it's been almost 4 years!"

"You know what sure, let's see if you're still a great wingman."

"Hey, I'm better than _great, _I'm the best!"

The two bantered back and forth as nothing had changed. They were so consumed by their own lives that they didn't even notice the two ominous figures lurking nearby.

"Opi, isn't it wrong to play with your prey?" Caleb whined absent mindedly paging through books on the shelf.

"Oh hush Caleb, I'm observing them, not playing with them!" The beautiful woman with ebony hair and porcelain skin quipped shutting a book on the tall man's face, causing him to yelp.

"Ouch! What good is observing when we could just attack?"

"Timing, my dear. Timing is everything." She smirked eyeing Sora with blood lust.

Caleb rolled his eyes at her melodramatic and vague statements.

"Oh?" he snorted sarcastically. "And when's _that_?"

"Just a few more days, be patient my pet." She turned and brushed the long strands of hair out of his eyes. "A few more days and he will be _ours._"

**A/N: Tada! Any love for the bromance chapter? Huh? This will be the LAST filler chapter until the epilogue so high fives all around! Also don't forget to follow me on twitter! **

**Reader Reviews:**

**Xerzo LotCN: Yes the voices are stupid, but not as stupid as Caleb haha.**

**Sora93kairi: haha yeah Anti Sora has some anger issues… I know the whole Sokai fandom was really dead for a while (one of the reasons I took so long to update is because I was regressing into old fandoms and almost crossed over into a new OTP but that has long passed) but there are a couple stories and authors that are really livening up the site! **

**DeathByPoeticWords: Thank you so much! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and Riku's role!**

**Smiley Anon: Thank you so much! Enjoy!**

**Sapphire Intensity: Glad you enjoyed the lemon tee hee! Also I completely agree. I. Love. Evil. Sora. I'm just going to warn you: shit's about to hit the fan so… enjoy :) Also the wedding will probably be the last chapter (not the epilogue). Enjoy!**

**DaniKingdom19: Awwwww thank you! You're too kind! I'm sorry this chapter isn't much but I figured an updates better than none, right? Hope you enjoyed it! **

**Angelalex242: Thank you so much for the review! Hopefully Mickey's visit will help!**

**Much love and Cookies! **

**Lovely**


	11. I Said I'll Never Leave

**A/N: Two chapters in one month? WHAT?! I'm trying to update more frequently, really! Plus last chapter was such a filler I felt guilty. This chapter made me want to stab myself but in my opinon it came out fairly well and really progresses the story line!**

**Song of the chapter: **_**Cat and Mouse- The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus**_

**Reminder: I have a twitter where I do tweet updates and previews and crap so follow my handle is LovelyLuck49**

**Shout out**** to my ONE twitter follower Katiee Stevee! Thanks for the follow and for the tweets! Sorry about the lies…. I'm a horrible person and I'm typing this up quickly because 10 minitue was 10 minutes ago…crap. so this chapter is for you :) hugs.**

**Diclaimer: Owns nothing**

_Am I supposed to be happy?_

_All I ever wanted, It comes with a price._

Sora fumbled with the keys to Kairi's apartment far past the time the sun had set, completely drunk on life. Sure he might have had a slight buzz from drinking with Riku at the bar but that's just it, he had hung out with his best friend for the first time in years, and Sora was absolutely giddy!

They had completely reconciled laughing as if the three years spent apart never happened and their friendship remained as strong as ever.

When Sora finally unlocked the door he was faced with a dark, silent hallway. He couldn't believe how lucky he was: a beautiful, loving fiancé, a truly wonderful best friend, and most of all a remarkable, amazing daughter who already played a huge part of his life despite the little time they have spent together. He didn't deserve them, any of them, after what he did, and he knew it.

Riku was right, calling Mickey for help was the best idea even if Sora could handle this darkness on his own. Deep down, however, he knew this was bigger than him, and it scared him shitless. The lingering fear of hurting anyone, let alone his family, was enough to make him find his own apartment.

The dim light in the kitchen was enough to pull Sora out of his daze. He peered through the door frame to see Kairi sipping on chamomile tea, working diligently on a stack of papers. Sora watched her for a while, a small grin formed on his face as warmth spread throughout his heart as she pursed her lips and squinted her eyes while methodically scribbling down notes or placing a grade at the top.

"Hi." Sora muttered cutting through the still silence of the night and causing the poor girl to pale and clutch at her pounding heart.

"You can't do that!" she squealed in a panicky whisper. Sora chuckled and kiss her on her head before sitting down in the chair adjacent to her. Tentatively, he reached for her hand.

"W-we need to talk."

"About?" Kairi sounded worried.

"I haven't been completely honest with you," he started, diverting his eyes to the floor in shame "For years, before I left even, I have been struggling with darkness." He sighed waiting for her to interject but she kept silent.

"At first it was just dark thoughts like 'they don't matter' or 'no one cares' but everything manifested once I started fighting in the dark realm. While I was there, I had to fight the intrusi who would invade my mind and try to manipulate me onto their side. They would torment me with my own memories and attempt to convince me that the people I love were hurting." His head hung low but his eyes looked up at her with a tremendous amount of hurt and sadness. "I can't even tell you how many times I heard you sobbing and screaming, begging for me to save you. But I couldn't find you and eventually, after about the fiftieth time I realized that it was all a hoax. That's when the voices started." Kairi reached for his hand in an effort to comfort him but worry and fear were apparent on her face.

"The intrusi are bodiless entities who can't be defeated by the keyblade alone. To fight an intrusi off, one must channel kingdom hearts and use its light to make it detach itself from your soul. I guess you can say intrusi are just darkness concentrated."

"Sora," Kairi gasped in surprise, "you know how dangerous exposing yourself to Kingdom hearts is!"

"The closer you are to the light, the bigger your shadow." He recalled. "But it was the only method that truly rid the intrusi. Until I learned how to defend myself, they would cloud my head with evil, morbid thoughts that almost drove me insane! They were trying to convince me to kill myself, that that was the only escape from the hell they were causing inside my head." Sora shuttered and swallowed a lump in his throat.

"I almost gave in, I-I was so close to just giving up and letting them have their way. I just wanted it to stop! As I laid on the ground and accepted my fate, an odd sense of calm washed over me and for the first time in almost a year, I felt hope. Through the keyblade, I felt the power of Kingdom Hearts running through my veins and suddenly the voices faded and the mental images disappeared. I know it was a risk, but it saved my life.

"Eventually the voices stopped all together and hadn't reappeared for a couple of weeks. I was fairly certain they were finally destroyed and that the light had won once again. But once I returned home, things have become worse." Kairi trembled, her eyes wide with fear.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"I think the intrusi attached themselves to my heart and have become much, much stronger. It all started with my dreams. In them, I was aimlessly walking through the dark realm with you screaming for help. Instantly, I started to channel Kingdom Hearts but then you were physically there held against your will by a man with a keyblade against your throat. I instantly fought back but I was too slow and he slit your throat. There was so much blood and I held you as you took your last breath. Goddammit Kai, it was so fucking real I still can't get it out of my head." Sora paused trying to regain composure while Kairi tried her best to stay calm and listen despite the horror of his words.

"The intrusi have become so strong now, they're manipulating me, manifesting my anger. That all became apparent when I went to visit Riku. We were fighting over you and Ari and things escalated rather quickly and he brought out his keyblade and something in me just snapped. I don't even really remember it. All I know is that I had thrown Riku against a wall as if he had weighed nothing and it felt _good_. I looked down at my hands and they were covered in black smoke, I was so scared. I didn't know what to do, so I ran, ran as fast as I could and ended up here."

"Is that why your eyes turn black?" Kairi whimpered, slowly making connections about his weird behavior in her head. Sora gaped at her in shock.

"That's happened in front of you?" his heart pounded loudly in his chest. She nodded and Sora started to hyperventilate.

"Kairi I swear if I ever did anything to hurt you, you need to tell me!" he begged but she shook her head vigorously.

"It was just your eyes I swear!"

"You don't know how scary it is, living with a potential monster inside of you."

"You're not a monster, Sora."

"Not for much longer at least, King Mickey is arriving tomorrow, Riku called him."

"What good will that do?"

"I need to free myself from this lingering darkness, I don't trust myself with you or Ari."

"D-Does that mean that you have to leave again?" she asked, eyes brimming with tears already knowing the answer.

"Possibly." She flinched as if physically burned by his words.

"For how long?" she whimpered.

"I-I don't know" He whispered.

Kairi hid her face in her hands not able to contain her violent sobs. Mortified, Sora tried to grab her hand but she snapped her head up at the contact.

"When? When do we ever get our happy ending?" she shrieked before stomping off in emotional distress.

"Kairi," he pleaded following her down the hall to their room.

"Kairi please…" he wrapped his arms around her in attempt to soothe her cries but it she only cried harder and pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She sobbed into his chest repeatedly as she desperately gripped his shirt terrified that he would disappear if she let go.

"I understand why you have to do this," with each word his heart broke "But I wish you didn't have to!" she collapsed against him in a tearful mess.

"I know, me either. But hey we don't even know if I have to leave yet so let's just enjoy our time together right now, okay?" he attempted to cheer her up while rubbing her back. Kairi nodded finally relaxing herself against him and letting her sobs subside.

"Can you just hold me?" she pleaded as he laid her down on the bed.

"Yeah of course." he wrapped his arms around her petite frame and placed a soft kiss on her temple.

They fell into the comfortable silence of night, soothed by the others warmth and lulled by their own rhythmic breathing.

Suddenly the door creaked open and a tiny head peaked through the door.

"Mamma?" a soft voice cooed.

"What baby?" Kairi whispered half asleep.

"No sleep." Ari walked to the bed side.

"Ari did you have a bad dream?" Sora asked with genuine concern.

Ari burst out into tears causing her parents to wake up.

"Hey shush it's okay, what happened?" Kairi soothed pulling the young girl into her warm embrace. But Ari reached out to Sora fighting against her mother's comfort. Sora held Ari close to him as her crying subsided and she was able to speak.

"Ari, what did you dream about?" Her father wondered.

"There was this man and this lady and they maked you go bye-bye forever." She explained still visibly shaken up.

"Hikari, no one can ever make me leave you, okay?"

"But they turned you into a monster with big yellow eyes and black skin. Y-You tried to hurt me."

"I will never hurt you, okay?" she whimpered still slightly unnerved.

"Can I sleep in here?" she begged.

" Yeah of course." Both parents agreed peeling back the covers letting Ari climb in bed.

The small family curled up together in bed with Ari in the middle fast asleep. To the ignorant eye, they looked happy, peaceful, adorable even but the lingering fear and distraught was palpable in the air. Kairi gazed at Sora with worry but he simply caressed her cheek as if to comfort her.

"It means nothing." He whispered confidently. The woman just closed her eyes and held his hand to her face as if to say 'I trust you'. Sora's eyes fell heavy as he watched his daughter with concern. Ari had her face scrunched up as another dream plagued her.

The last thing Sora remembered before slipping into unconsciousness, eyelids closing despite his best efforts, was Ari calling out her sleep.

"Opi, Kay-Kay, why you do this?"

""

The next morning Riku came over to walk with Sora and Kairi to the shore for the King's arrival.

"Riku!" Ari yelped in pure joy and excitement.

"Ari!" Riku cooed and reached out to the child. Sora stood by amused, not used to this new side to Riku.

"I miss you!"

"I've missed you too! Jeeze you've gotten bigger since I last seen you. How old are you now? 10? 11?" He teased.

"No I'm three!"

"Still?"

"Mhm but Momma says the my birfday is soon, right Momma?"

"Yes sweet heart, it's next month!" Kairi cheered "You're getting so old!"

Riku placed Ari back on the ground so she could go play with Nanny Dairu.

"Kairi, I'm sorry." He hugged her and she hugged him back eagerly with a huge smile on her face.

"You were just protecting me, but I'm glad you came around. Thank you."

Sora for once did not feel threatened by their relationship and was truly happy for them.

"Should we get going? I mean the King is going to be here soon." Sora interjected on their moment.

"Yeah, let me just say goodbye to Ari." Kairi let go of her best friend and went to find her daughter leaving the two men in the kitchen alone.

"So are you nervous?" Riku questioned with hesitance, not wanting to provoke the dark side of him that seems to be easily triggered.

"Terrified." Sora gulped down a glass of water. "What if I can't get rid of it, what if I permanently become that _thing_?"

"Trust me, Mickey will know how to fix everything. No heart is damaged beyond repair, especially a heart like yours." Sora nodded trying to let the words comfort him but it was no avail.

"All right let's go!" Kairi yelled from the hall.

""

Mickey's gummi ship arrived exactly on time disrupting the serenity of the play island.

"Hey guys!" Mickey called out in his usual peppy way. The three bowed and he hugged each and every one of them. "So I heard you're having a little trouble." He directed at Sora.

"Yeah…" The brunette admitted, embarrassedly.

"Sowa!" a small white feathery thing ran out of the ship and tackled him a big hug.

"Hey there, Sora!" A tall dog like creature ran over and joined in on the hug.

"Donald! Goofy!" he cried out in utter disbelief and pure joy. He hadn't seen them since defeating Xehanort nearly 8 years ago.

"What's this I hear about you and darkness?" Donald chastised.

"Well it all started after we defeated Xehanort…"

Sora then went into great detail about his experiences in the dark realm and all the things that had been happening since his return with Kairi and Riku interjecting every once in a while to expand on their experiences.

Once they explained everything, Mickey just stood there trying to absorb all the new information.

"Hm… It does sound like the Intrusi are behind it. But here's the thing, Sora, it sounds like this matter goes beyond the confines of your heart. The intrusi seem to latching on to the deepest recesses of your mind and even if you rid them in your heart, they retreat back into your mind. I guess they were never really disposed of, they just remain dormant until they can catch you off guard and when you fight back they retreat, not ever really leaving you." Sora suddenly felt invaded and uncomfortable. The mouse screwed up his face in confusion. "It's strange though, there isn't any other Intrusi activity occurring in the dark realm or any other world like there was before. It's almost as if they were specifically created for you and you alone."

"How, how do we fix this?" Sora nearly begged.

"I believe Riku could help with this?"

"Uh, what?" The silverette scratched at his head.

"Remember the Mark of Mastery exam? You earned the ability to lock and unlock Sora's heart!"

"And how will that help?"

"Riku, you are able to allow Sora passage into his own heart where he can defeat these 'beings' once and for all, leaving no remnants to latch back on to his mind."

Sora nodded. This is why he admired the King, he had the amazing ability to take such an abstract problem and explain the solution in the simplest way possible.

"I can do that." Riku agreed to the plan.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Kairi piped up. Mickey smiled at her.

"Of course! While Sora's fighting, his body will appear to be in a coma, as if sleeping. Riku will need to protect him since his heart will be open but Kairi, what you can do is surround him with light. Even though he won't be awake, he will still feel your presence and hear you." Kairi nodded.

"I have a spare bedroom he can use so I can be there constantly." Riku interjected

"Perfect."

"How long is this going to take?" Sora wondered.

"I'm not sure, it could be a week or it could be a year. I've never really had any experience with this." Mickey's face fell.

"When can we start?" Sora just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible so he could finally start his life without all this crap hanging over his head.

"As soon as you're ready."

"Let me just say my goodbyes and then we'll meet at Riku's in an hour."

""

Saying good bye to his mother was easier than expected. Even though Elise didn't fully comprehend the situation, she was happy that he wasn't physically leaving the islands and that she could visit any time she wanted.

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you too sweet heart, but for the love of god please tell me this is the last time you have to do this!"

"I hope." He smiled trying to reassure her that he'd be alright.

Elise left the room so Ari and Sora could be alone.

"Ari," Sora started not really knowing what to say. "I'm going to need to go away for a little while."

"Why?" she questioned with sad blue eyes.

"Because, Because I'm really, really sick and I need to go sleep it off."

"But I'm going to miss you!" she cried.

"Hey, I'm just going to be sleeping at Riku's house and you can come visit me whenever you want!" he tried to place a positive spin on it.

"But are you going to miss my birthday?"

"I don't know, but just in case," Sora reached in his pocket and grabbed his second most powerful keychain. Ultima Weapon. Ari stared at it in awe, it was so colorful and bright. Sora placed a quick spell on it and handed it to her. "Take this with you everywhere you go, if something bad happens it will protect you. Happy birthday Ari." He kissed her on the head and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you, Sora." She wrapped her small arms around his neck and squeezed.

"I love you." He whispered.

"I love you too." He was touched and almost lost his composure.

"Hey Sora, do you like my Momma?"

"Yes, I love her a lot Ari." He admitted.

"Good."

"Why?" he asked confused.

"Because, if you love Momma and Momma love you, then you be my Dada, right?"

"Is that what you want?" Ari nodded her head vigorously and Sora was touched that she would chose him but wondered if she'd feel the same way if she knew what he did.

"Good, that's what I want too." He hugged her one more time before saying a final farewell to his daughter.

Kairi waited for him in the hall completely crest fallen.

"Sora, I was thinking, Maybe I shouldn't be there when you actually go under." She shuddered. "I just don't think I could handle it." He nodded understanding completely. "But I'll visit, I promise." She hugged him desperately.

"Kairi, I swear I'll come back as soon as I can." He hugged her back breathing in the scent of her trying to memorize everything about this moment. "Start making wedding plans because the second I wake up I want to make you mine forever. Our happy ever after starts now." He kissed her forehead, her cheeks and her lips until they were both breathless.

"Oh, Sora"

"I promise."

"I love you so much" she whispered laying her head in the crook of his neck.

"I love you most."

With one last breath-taking kiss they parted and he regrettably headed for the door.

"See you soon." She offered a small smile which he tried to return and kissed her on the forehead one list time before walking out the door.

As soon as the front door fully shut, Kairi collapsed against it crying so hard she started hyperventilating.

"Momma!" Ari cried as Elise rushed over to console the sobbing woman.

"Don't worry, Momma, he's going to be just fine." Ari smiled.

""

"Alright Sora," Mickey instructed as the brunette reclined on Riku's guest bed. "Pass Riku your keyblade and just relax." Sora handed Riku Oathkeeper shaking his head in disbelief.

"I still can't believe you can use my keyblade but I can't use yours." He pouted.

"Sucks to suck." Riku responded holding the foreign object carefully.

"Alright now Riku whenever you're ready unlock Sora's heart." Riku took a shuttering, nervous breath.

"Sora," his long-time friend warned. "Whatever they say, whatever they try to make you believe, just know it's not true, okay?" Sora smiled and nodded trying to keep relaxed. Riku jabbed Oathkeeper into his friend's chest and Sora felt his body slowly become numb and could hardly keep his eyes open.

"Riku," Sora whispered his voice a mile away. "Take care of them." He smiled Riku smiled fondly at the meaning behind his words.

"Of course." Then Sora saw nothing, body completely numb.

_Falling, Falling, into darkness._

**A/N: So I'm completely and totally happy with this chapter despite how much it killed me to write. (I literally need to sleep for days I was wracking my brain with this chapter!) I'd love to hear what you have to say so leave a review! Please! **

**Also the preview I tweeted was for future chapters so I'll post it here:**

"_This is your worst nightmare, and it's not even our fault!"_

"_Mom, I want the truth."  
"I'm pregnant."_

**(not in context)**

**Reviewer responses: **

**Sora93kairi: Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter even more muahahaha**

**Sad reader: I KNOW! I was devastated I guess you can say my sadness really helped me power through this chapter.**

**Xerzo LotCN: everything is kind of up in the air right now. Will there plan work? I don't know just got to keep reading :)**

**deathByPoeticWords: First of all expect an email about our project soon. Sorry I've been busy writing this. And as always thank you for your kind words :)**

**Sapphire intensity: I hope you don't think of this chapter as filler! ( I could see it going both ways…) Hope you enjoyed the mickey (and the Donald and Goofy {I just love them!}) About Caleb and Opi, good question that I'm not going to answer muahahhaha. Ps: I love all cookies even the virtual kind so thank you, they were delicious!**

** : Your welcome! It deserves every review and read that it has! Also, I LOVE Finding Hikari, like you have no idea, oh my god. You posted a chapter earlier today and I was so excited it woke me up instantly! So here's my plea for an update because cliffhangers, though awesome are also cruel! Thank you so much for your amazing words!**

**Natasha: Thank you so much! Seriously! I love when people actually comment about the things they like (and don't like {constructively}) because it really helps me! I honestly struggled with the lemon in chapter 9 because I completely agree, most authors just throw sex in there and does become uncomfortable or too quick. My concern was how to end it because there is nothing worse than a great lemon that fizzles out at the end. I'm so glad you find my story believable in the emotional sense. My goal was to make this a slightly darker, future fic that shows the characters as who they are but grown up, slightly damaged and way more mature. Thank you for catching on and thank you for your lovely words!**


	12. REALLY IMPORTANT AN ABOUT THE FUTURE!

AUTHORS NOTE ABOUT THE FUTURE!

A/N: Sorry to continually disappoint you. Initially when I opened this word document, it was to start the new chapter. I've felt so bad that I haven't posted in FOREVER and I just wanted to wrap up this fic as quick as possible.

But let me explain the reason why this chapter is So. Freaking. Late. Plain and simple, I've lost my Sokai muse. I really hate that I have and I've been trying desperately to fight it, but I have and it really upsets me. Sokai is no longer my strong OTP. Don't get me wrong! I still ship them and I still love Kingdom Hearts but I don't get the Sokai feels anymore :(

It's funny actually, I've been forcing myself to read Sokai fanfiction and look at fan art and watch AMV's and they did nothing for me and honestly it's pissing me off. I want Sokai to be my OTP and this change in me literally happened over night. One night I was like "Whoooo I love Sokai, Sokai Five-ever!" And the next morning I was like, "yeah, they're cool, I guess…"

But anyways, I tried to write this new chapter. I had everything planned out, ready to go but as the words hit the page, it was bad. It was crap, actually, and I can't post it. I tried to reword everything but it's just not working because I have no real passion or drive to write this.

**BEFORE YOU FREAK OUT, I WILL NOT ABANDON THIS FIC, THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE IS SIMPLY ABOUT GIVING THE READERS OPTIONS ON HOW THIS WILL PLAY OUT!**

So here's the options I'm suggesting:

ONE: I can finish it completely: two chapters, the wedding, and an epilogue.

The only down side to this is that it will take me a long time to write the two chapters (the Wedding shouldn't be too hard and I already have the epilogue done) and when I say the updates will be slow, I mean that you guys could not see a chapter until late September or October.

TWO: I can finish telling the two chapters in a nicely written, but less detailed and less awesome summery with no real dialogue between the characters and condense it down to one chapter. However, with this option I will still write the wedding but it will be an addition to the epilogue, NOT its own chapter. With this method I can have the summary posted by Friday.

OTHER: If you have a FLAME FREE option, let me know. I'm still open to ideas on how to handle this.

**Please let me know what you think by either sending me a PM or an E-mail (see below) but **_**NOT**_** a review.** I mean you could but I don't want people to think I'm posting this solely to bump my reviews. I love all my reviews; I'm not greedy like that :)

**Email: **hopelessromantic49 at gmail com

Anyways, I'm looking for constructive ideas and opinions. If you want to flame me, fine do so, but that's not going to help the story at all.

I am really sorry about this.

**Lovely**


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